GABORONE - Ms Margaret Nasha is the first women to be appointed Speaker of the National Assembly.

I feel elated, honoured and humbled to be the first woman to assume the position of Speaker of the National Assembly, she said after her endorsemnt on Wednesday.

This shows that people have confidence that I can lead the House.

The newly elected Speaker, however lamented the low number of women who have made it to Parliament after the October 16 elections, saying there were many capable women out there.

She was however hopeful that her election as Speaker would encourage the electorate and political parties to ensure that the trend is reversed in the future. The representation is four against 58 men in the house.

It is indeed an unfortunate reversal of the gains we have been making in the past few years in the field of womens representation in politics and gender equality generally.

Outlining her priorities, Ms Nasha said there was need for timely conclusion and approval of the new standing orders to have them for use in the next session of parliament.

The Speaker also highlighted the need to reform the parliamentary committee system so as to dispose of more business at the committees and thus downscale on time spent on general debates in the house.

Among her priorities, Ms Nasha intends to fast track the automation of the Parliament library as outlined in National Development Plan (NDP 10).

However, she said she remained open to suggestions on the much needed transformational changes and reforms to the Parliament operations.

I do not intend to turn the House into a pre-burial night vigil. I shall allow for robust lively debates which must however remain focused on the issues at hand.

She also advocated for the need to inculcate the spirit of mutual respect among MPs. Indeed, I expect divergent views to emerge during those lively debates but for our choice of words must at all times exude a high degree of mutual respect and finesse.

She expressed hope that with full cooperation from parliamentarians she will be able to take Parliament to greater heights.

I therefore commit myself to creating a conducive environment in our Parliament for a complementary relationship between this House and other branches of government. And you can help me achieve that goal, she said.

However, she lamented problems that plagued the previous house sittings and thus plead with the members not to forget their pledges to Batswana. In this regard, she noted that of the problems included that of the suspension of sittings due to lack of a quorum in the house.

You will agree with me that this situation impacted negatively on our performance and image. My plea to you in this regard is whatever we do or say we must always ask ourselves is it in the best interests of this Republic and the people who brought us here.

Ms Nasha is a political icon, an advocate of women and childrens rights. She was also involved in the formation of organisations such as the Caucus for Women in Politics and Masiela Trust Fund.

Under her leadership government passed the Marital and Childrens Bills which elevated the rights of married women and children.

She started her political career in 1994 after resigning from the civil service and served as a Specially Elected Member of Parliament and Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration in the previous parliament.

Ms Nasha holds a BA Humanities from University of Botswana and Swaziland, majoring in English and History and minors in Sociology and African Languages.

She joined the civil service in 1968 as an announcer and producer at Radio Botswana and after she graduated from UBS, she rejoined the department of information and broadcasting service as a senior producer.

At the time she was the head of women programmes and head of transcription services.

She resigned from civil service in August 1979 and joined UNDP as a programme assistant in charge of the UNFPA projects in Botswana, a post she held for a year before returning to the department of broadcasting and services.

In April 1984 she was promoted to the post of Deputy Director in charge of the whole broadcasting division and in May 1985, she became the Director, controlling all sections of government owned media.

Ms Nasha joined the foreign services mission in February 1989, when she was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

She served as the chairman of the SADC group of ambassadors and high commissioners, whose aim was to sell SADC as a viable organization and to attract investment to the region.

Ms Nasha also served as a member of the Commonwealth Executive Committee of High Commissioners, member of the Commonwealth Institute Board of Governors and chairman of the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Foundation.

In March 1993, she was promoted to Deputy Secretary for Foreign Affairs and resigned from the public service in October 1994 to join politics as a member of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).

She has served cabinet in different portfolios, as an assistant minister and eventually ministers in minerals, energy and water resources between 1998 and 1999, Local Government from 1999-2002.

Between 2002 and 2004 she was the Minister of Lands and Housing. Parliament has also endorsed MP for Tonota South Mr Pono Moatlhodi, who is in his third term in parliament, as deputy speaker. BOPA