22 Jul 2014

The Member of Parliament for Shoshong, Mr Philip Makgalemele says just like urban areas, rural areas must also compete for investors as they do not exist in isolation, but are an integral part of Botswana.

Mr Makgalemele said this on Friday(July 18) when soliciting support for his motion, which requested government to develop a strategy aimed at attracting investors to the rural areas in order to fast track employment creation and poverty eradication.

Presenting the motion, Mr Makgalemele said despite their (rural areas) importance to the country, there had been challenges frustrating the attraction of investors to these areas, such as lack of supporting services like schools and hospitals as well as lack of recreational facilities.

“Another problem that we have in our effort to attract investors to rural areas is the non-availability of serviced land and factory premises,” he said.

Mr Makgalemele said there was clear cut evidence that investors create jobs, diversify the economy, and eradicate poverty, but said it was bad that such investment hardly benefits the rural areas yet they were intended to benefit all citizens.

He however, said there was hope as there was political will to create such enabling environment for attracting investors to rural areas, but said what was lacking was a clear cut targeted approach to investor attraction.

Mr Makgalemele also advised that government should focus more on sectors such as agriculture as they were the backbone of rural areas, and that studies had indicated that poverty was rifer in rural areas.

Contributing the MP for Gaborone North, Mr Keletso Rakhudu said it had always been the effort of government to curb the rural-urban migration, therefore the creation of deliberate policies such as LIMID and ISPAAD.

Mr Rakhudu said such policies had the potential to create opportunities for investors in rural areas, and that the deliberate move by government to give tenders such as the supply of food and school uniforms to primary school by upcoming small business people was an indication that government intends to empower the rural community.

He said the tourism and mining sectors, which were big earners in as far as foreign trade was concerned, were driven from rural areas.

The MP for Maun West, Mr Tawana Moremi said infrastructure development such as roads was vital to rural development, and that it was a pity that Botswana ranks number ten in Africa in as far as infrastructure development was concerned.

“Botswana has underinvested in infrastructure development and if this continues to be the case, it will frustrate all efforts towards rural development,” he said.

Mr Moremi also said government fails to plan forward, but only acts when there was pressure on the need for some major developments such as bridges.

The MP for Letlhakeng West, Mr Ngaka Ngaka also concurred with Mr Moremi, saying it was bad that in some small villages, basics such as electricity connection was still lacking.

He said vital infrastructure such as electricity and good road had the potential to make initiatives such as integrated farming a success. ENDS