Constitutional Court A Must – Boko

The establishment of a Constitutional Court is an important step in developing Botswana’s constitutional democratic system, and in strengthening the judicial process, President Advocate Duma Boko has said. Contribution to the Constitutional Amendment Bill that has been tabled before Parliament on Monday, President Boko ventilated the argument that the Constitutional Court would be an important instrument in developing the nation’s legal process. The President said the court was essential to the protection of the rights and providing an avenue for recourse of everyone resident in Botswana.

It would clearly delineate a legal route and platform where constitutional matters were handled with urgency, consistency, and authority, the President Boko said. In countering the argument that not sufficient consultation had been done with the public and societal stakeholders, President Boko pointed out that among the findings of the 2022 report presented by the Presidential Commission into the Review of the Constitution, the Dibotelo Commission, was that public opinion was in favour of establishing a Constitutional Court. Outlining the historical path Botswana undertook towards its constitution, President Boko said the Order in Council of May 9, 1891 declared Bechuanaland a British Protectorate, and over the following century, the British Parliament proclaimed in August 1966 to grant Bechuanaland independence as the Republic of Botswana.

This was after the 1963, Lobatse Conference and the Malborough House Conference held in London in February 1966 agreed to the terms of Botswana’s independence and basic tenets of her constitution. But, minority ethnic groups and vulnerable groups including women were not represented at Lobatse and Malborough House, President Boko argued and the country thus needed a broader, inclusive constitutional review process that would involve the views of a diverse sector of society. He said the Constitutional Court would be the first step in creating an avenue where any party felt aggrieved by the constitutional review process could find a fair arbitrary process.

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President Boko noted that the Botswana constitution had a Bill of Rights, Section 3 to 16, which protects the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual, including the rights to life, personal liberty, protection from inhuman treatment and the freedoms of conscience, expression, movement, association and assembly. This, the President pronounced was international best practice flowing from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments that provided for life, liberty and equal protection before the law.

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