The outspoken, and youthful Member of Parliament for Kanye North- Honourable Thapelo Letsholo has given the Economic Inclusion Bill a thumbs down. The legislator feels the bill does not fulfill the purpose it was intended.
“In my view, the manner in which the bill has been crafted is likely to be non-justiciable, meaning that it cannot be enforced before the courts by citizens, due to the fact that it does not seem to give clear rights to individuals and also because it is rather too vague.” Letsholo observed.
Letsholo is concerned that the bill may not achieve the desired objectives mainly due to lack of decisiveness and boldness. He was saying this arguing that if the constitution is an impediment to a sound Citizen Economic Empowerment then it should be reviewed and ammended as a matter of urgency.
According to Letsholo, the bill does not address the problems faced by indigenous citizens. Though some thought giving preference to indigenous citizens is discriminatory, Letsholo holds a different view, “It has been argued that specifically preferring Motswana wa Sekei in law will be tantamount to discriminating against naturalized Batswana. What is the problem with that? Those naturalized citizens do not have the same challenges as Motswana yo o nang le kgotla. In fact, those citizens have never been excluded from effective participation in the Botswana economy. This law is not for those citizens, it is for those Batswana who have been excluded and must now be included. The majority of Batswana can not be disadvantaged and held at ransom because of a few people, otherwise we may be accused of being captured by those few. I am adamant that we need a Citizen Economic Empowerment Law in earnest. In my view, the Constitution will not consider it discrimination if the intention is to uplift Batswana from poverty and to grant equal protection of the law – which is the first objective of the Constitution under the Bill of Rights. Enacting a CEE law is about promoting economic rights.” he held.
Letsholo is the view that the current bill does not give Batswana the substantive rights that they were looking for in a CEE law. Furthermore, he has observed that the bill is not clear about which Batswana have been excluded? How were they excluded? And most importantly, how are they being included? Letsholo suggests that the bill ought to be concerned with those who have less or no affordability, who lack adequate resources and have no access to equal opportunity.”If we focus on this, the question of a possible breach of the constitution would not arise at all.” he proclaimed.
