Efforts by Francistown Member of Parliament, Ignatius Moswaane, to petition Office of the President on Friday hit a brick wall after it sufficed that OP is the approving authority for such a petition.
Moswaane told The Voice Online in an interview that as far as he was concerned he had complied with all procedure to be able to hand over a petition to OP.
“In our attempt to hand over this petition, a technicality arose. We learnt from the police that we needed permission from OP to guarantee that they’d be there to receive it. We found it odd, that we had to get permission from the same people we’re petitioning. Nonetheless we followed procedure,” he said.
“There were two addressees, OP and the National Assembly. We managed to submit to the Speaker of the National Assembly and we’re still waiting for OP to cooperate,” he said.
The MP said they are at the final stage and are currently awaiting a letter of consent from OP, to give them the green light.
“If that is not granted, we’ll use every power we have as the masses to ensure that everything carried in the petition reaches Batswana,” warned Moswaane.
The Francistown West legislator told The Voice Online that the petition carries so many issues affecting Batswana and that it needs to be discussed by decision makers.
“I started working on this document early in 2019 and handed some of these concerns privately to the President and Ministers, but no action has been taken, that is why I’m petitioning OP,” revealed Moswaane.
Press Secretary to the President Batlhalefi Leagajang who is currently on quarantine referred all questions to government spokesperson, Andrew Sesinyi.
He however could not be reached for comment.
