MPS FOR BICCRO BOOT CAMP

In its latest edition, Monitor, our stepsister newspaper, carries a story on boot camps that are run by the self- styled Botswana Institute of Reintegration and Rehabilitation of Offenders ( BIRRO). BIRRO is headed by a former prisoner and has enlisted the services of former soldiers and police officers. At least on the basis of the reporting and on face value, the so- called boot camps are just a ploy to self- indulgently assault wayward youth but the issue is actually much more complex. Young people who end up at the boot camps are themselves no angels and are being forced to feel how it is like when the shoe is on the other foot – which can yield positive behavioural change because after these camps, they become more conscious of how their actions affect others. Oddly though, there is no working relationship between BIRRO and the National Assembly. As the Speaker and the nation will agree, some MPs are still immature and behave abominably during each parliamentary session. In the last session of parliament, one of the adult MPs said that some elderly people no longer tune into Radio Botswana or Btv to listen to or watch parliamentary debates because they can’t stomach the coarse misconduct of the wayward MPs. No standing order has been able to rein in these political “leaders” and the more their misconduct goes unpunished, the more they are emboldened. We are actually looking at a future when some of them might be tempted to beat up the Speaker because they don’t ever suffer consequences for their actions. At least he knows what to do now.