Speech at a Workshop for Parliamentarians, Kingdom of Swaziland

Rt. Hon. Themba Dlamini, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Swaziland;

Honourable Justice Warioba, former Prime Minister of Tanzania;

Honourable Ms. Constance T. Simelane, Deputy Prime Minister;

Honourable President of the Senate, Chief Gelane Zwane

Honourable Prince Guduza, Speaker of Parliament;

Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers;

Honourable Members of Parliament;

Distinguished Facilitators

Ms Chinwe Dike, UNDP Resident Representative;

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen;

I am delighted to be here, once again, at the start of another important Workshop. It is eleven months since my last visit here with a team of Commonwealth officials, to conduct a Workshop for Cabinet Ministers and Principal Secretaries.

I wish to convey warm greetings from the Secretary – General. I recall his speech at the Opening of Parliament last year, when he paid special tribute to the role of Parliamentarians, having been a Parliamentarian himself for twenty-one years. I wish to echo his words:

“You are the people's representatives. Without you, the many voices of the people would fall silent. Everyone in the country must feel their individual voice and view can be heard. You are carrying out a sacred trust on behalf of your people. Your roles include making laws, making funding available to the Government, holding the Government to account, and debating the issues of the day. By exercising fully your duty and responsibility, you create a positive political environment that will allow this wonderful nation to grow stronger and more prosperous.”

I urge you to take a cue from this exhortation as you work with other arms of government to meet the enormous challenges of fully achieving our common goal of a better life for all.

Swaziland has always occupied a special place in the Commonwealth. And I stand here today as a testimony to this. We have always taken a long term interest in Swaziland and its future and will continue to do so.

Next year you will mark 40 years of independence and 40 years of belonging to our association. This is indeed a significant milestone. I wish to underscore the high premium the Commonwealth places on the political and socio-economic well-being of Swaziland and our commitment to providing a comprehensive technical assistance programme to this country.

When I was here for the Workshop for Cabinet Ministers and Principal Secretaries, I took the opportunity of the visit to renew our cooperation agreement with UNDP in delivering aspects of this assistance. I am pleased to inform that I will sign the Memorandum of Understanding with UNDP Swaziland during this visit.

Honourable Prime Minister,

This workshop is designed to promote good governance in Swaziland through increasing understanding among Parliamentarians and the Executive on the roles of the three branches of Government, the relationship between Parliamentarians and the Executive and the relationship between Parliamentarians and the Judiciary, and the importance of the separation of powers while maintaining checks and balances.

The basic idea is that to develop a framework of actions that would provide a proper equilibrium between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, in accordance with the constitution of Swaziland and the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles adapted by Commonwealth leaders at their meeting in Abuja in 2003. It is important that we remind ourselves of the essentials of these principles:

· Respect for Parliament’s primary responsibility for law-making on one hand, and the Judiciary’s role to interpret and apply the law on the other;

· The independence and freedom of Parliamentarians to carry out their legislative and constitutional functions;

· An independent, impartial, honest, and competent Judiciary;

· Merit and proven integrity as the criteria for eligibility for appointment to public office, as well as public office holders being fully representative of the community;

· Ethical behaviour, underpinned by guidelines that are periodically reviewed, and that take into account transparency and accountability in particular;

· Accountability in particular for the Executive branch to Parliament, and for the Judiciary to the constitution;

· An open and full examination of law by Parliament when it is made, including opportunity where appropriate for wider public consideration;

· Strong oversight of government, including zero tolerance of corruption, through institutions such as Public Accounts Committees, Ombudsmen and so on; and, finally,

· Recognition of the role of civil society to underpin democracy and to implement the Commonwealth’s fundamental values.

As Parliamentarians, you are well aware that governance is all about how decisions are made in societies, how countries are governed, how a government conducts itself, and how different stakeholders, including citizens are engaged in the governance process.

Governance, as I pointed out to the Workshop for Cabinet Ministers last June, is all about whether a government has the personnel and organisational systems to design its policies and the ability to implement them with the participation of its citizens. You are all therefore directly involved in governance at different levels and varying degrees. Consequently, you are all primed to bring about the desired positive changes in the political and socio-economic landscape of Swaziland.

The task is truly daunting but I am confident that, working together with due recognition of the separation of powers in the three branches of Government, you will rise above this challenge. We must always bear it in mind that your role as the legislative branch of Government, and its relationship with the executive and judiciary, will always have a direct impact in the lives of the people.

My message to you, therefore, is that you must redouble your efforts at strengthening existing collaboration and consciously build strong cooperation between the three branches of Government. This will be touched upon extensively at this workshop under the theme “Good Governance and Relationships in the context of the new Constitution”.

Honourable Prime Minister,

It has been over a year since His Majesty the King gave his Royal Assent to the formal adoption of the Constitution. I recall with much delight, that when His Majesty granted me an audience during my visit in March 2006, he declared that new Constitution is the supreme law of Swaziland and that he would ensure its enforcement in letter and spirit. I wish to reaffirm this path. It is the way to Swaziland’s future and I take this opportunity to urge you to remain committed to His Majesty’s lead and vision.

The Constitution, among other things, sets the parameters for governance in the country and is vital for strengthening democracy, the rule of law and the respect for Human Rights.

While this workshop will aim to improve your understanding of the separation of powers and the operational aspects of the Constitution, as Parliamentarians, you also have the responsibility to communicate these principles and to promote a greater understanding of the Constitution to the people of Swaziland.

As representatives of the people, the challenge before you is to remain accountable to your people including the poorest and most vulnerable. Accountability is a key ingredient of good governance in that it ensures that governments are answerable to their people for the way they run the country.

One way of ensuring accountability is through the mechanism of parliamentary committees. For us in the Commonwealth, we believe that the role of parliamentary committees in providing oversight as a check on Government business is vital for a healthy parliamentary democracy. Of course, we also believe that the key to the success of oversight bodies is the support they receive from the country’s leadership. If the Executive routinely ignores recommendations, then the effectiveness of an oversight body is diminished. Leaders must provide a positive example.

You will also be discussing other operational aspects such as ethics, status, immunities and privileges as well as codes of conduct. I hope that you will examine these matters in a frank and open manner in order to create the necessary understanding needed to build good, solid working relationships among the three branches of Government.

I am sure that this workshop will afford Parliamentarians the opportunity to reflect on how they have been conducting business in the past, to benchmark experiences with those of other countries in the Commonwealth and to develop strategies for working effectively together with other branches of Government so as to lead the transformation process of Swaziland.

Honourable Prime Minister,

I wish to acknowledge the presence of a number of eminent Commonwealth citizens, including former Prime Minister of Tanzania Justice Warioba, who are present here as facilitators and presenters during the workshop. Their collective experiences will be important to illustrate how the implementation of Constitutions and the separation of powers have been manifested in other parts of the Commonwealth.

I wish to thank Justice Warioba for accepting our invitation to assist in the delivery of this important workshop. I am aware that you have just concluded another very important Commonwealth mission, namely chairing the Commonwealth Observer Group which observed the recent elections in Nigeria. I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to you for allowing the Commonwealth to impose upon your valuable time, once again, to undertake this important task.

I would also like to thank Ms. Kandawasvika-Nhundu from the SADC Parliamentary Forum and Prof Shadrack Gutto, our lead facilitators who will share their insight and experiences during this workshop.

I must thank the UNDP Resident Representative, Ms Chinwe Dike, for her continued support and assistance. Your presence here reinforces the fact that a new form of joint collaboration has evolved between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the UNDP. I look ahead to joint or complementary programming on the ground following our joint signing of the MoU this week.

I must not fail to mention the untiring efforts and dynamism of His Royal Highness Prince David, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs,in all these processes, as well as the valuable help we have received for the Honourable Speaker Prince Guduza, Mr. Mzwandile Fakudze, the Deputy Attorney-General and the Clerk to Parliament, Ms Sanele Nxumalo, in putting this workshop together.

Honourable Prime Minister,

Please allow me to end by expressing a concern which our international partners have brought to our attention. It is in regard to the rather slow pace of reforms and actions being taken to implement various aspects of the Constitution. There is a general feeling that Swaziland should have progressed much further than where we are now. Indeed, some of my colleagues at the Commonwealth Secretariat have had reasons to draw my attention to this development.

My plea to you is that you should use your positions to encourage government officials to respond more rapidly to requests put to them in an effective and efficient manner to enable us meet our targets in all aspects of our assistance program in Swaziland.

I can assure you that our lines of communication remain open and that the Commonwealth Secretariat wishes to see our support to Swaziland, particularly in the context of the MoU with UNDP Swaziland, bear positive results. We stand ready to assist, but can only ensure its success with the co-operation of officials of your Government in ensuring its implementation.

I thank you for your attention and wish you successful deliberations.