Botswana: The Minister of Defence and Security, Thomas Kagiso Mmusi, has applauded the Ministry’s Boards, Councils and committee members for their continued commitment and dedication to ensuringย A SAFE AND SECURE NATIONย for the citizenry.ย
Speaking on the occasion of the meet and greet session with Boards, Councils and Committees in Gaborone today, Minister Mmusi has said for one to be appointed to serve in these Boards does not come cheap since the membership is anchored on the Government’s high degree of trust that they will diligently and professionally apply themselves.ย
“๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ,” he said.
Minister Mmusi highlighted that the members have been appointed in accordance with the respective relevant legislation, which calls for them to abide by the respective acts.ย
He expressed concern that the country has experienced an upsurge of cases of crime that calls for a collective effort, hence the need to complement each other one way or the other to attain the intended goal.
“๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ท๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ 2036. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญโฆ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ,” he said.
In an endeavour to ensure the smooth running and effectiveness of the Boards, the Minister promised an open-door policy through the Office of the Permanent Secretary for consultation and engagement. He stated that the Ministry will make every effort to make engagements more regular and scheduled for efficiency and effectiveness.ย
He informed the public that his team is executing mandates on behalf of the Government.ย
Minister Mmusi further urged the Boards to develop strategic annual plans with performance targets effective financial year. He also encouraged different Boards and the management of the Ministry to conduct and facilitate site visits to inform themselves of the situation on the ground.
On giving her reciprocal remarks, the outgoing Chairperson of the National Parole Board, Justice Mercy Garekwe, said the mandate of the Board is to reintegrate people who have been convicted of criminal activities back into mainstream society.ย
She said it is a very sensitive and challenging mandate as they have to try and balance the interest of society while at the same time ensuring that prisoners who are fully assessed and rehabilitated are recommended for release before the expiration of their sentences.ย
Justice Garekwe also pointed out that there is a need for extensive public education on Parole.ย
“๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ,” she said.ย
The outgoing Chairperson thanked the Minister for appointing her to serve on the Parole Board. She also thanked Commissioner of Prisons Dinah Marathe and her Team for their unwavering support. She said the support from the Prison Service makes their work seamless.
Meanwhile, the Vice Chairperson of the Prisons Council, Mike Shemah Dube, also appreciated both the Ministry and Botswana Prison Service for the immense support they continue to receive as the Council.ย
He highlighted that the finalization of the draft Charter as well as sitting at the Ministry Headquarters, are critical in ensuring that all processes are executed within the parameters of the law as they deliver their task of ensuring Prison Officer’s appeals are listened to and adjudicated accordingly.