15 Sep 2014

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) prospective parliamentary candidate for Kanye North, Mr Kentse Rammidi says politics for development should focus on improving living standards and the quality of life.

Speaking at a BCP political rally in Kanye on September 14, Mr Rammidi said parliamentarians should focus on improving people’s lives and catering for the needs of the masses rather than accumulating wealth for themselves.

He said true leaders should be driven by people’s interests but not their personal desire and hence should initiate programmes that could have a positive impact on people’s lives.

Mr Rammidi said he could not risk the lives of the masses by exchanging people’s interests with the luxurious class of life that he could be living at Botswana Democratic Party; hence there was need to cross the boundary to BCP.

He said true leaders should heed to people’s advice. He said BDP was muzzling him to talk about critical issues that had potential in shaping the future of the country, stressing that if there was any kind of achievement he could be proud of was to see people living well and not in bondage.

He was of the view that issues discussed in parliament should build the future of the country and improve the lives of the masses across the political divide.

He said ideas in parliament should not be politicised as such a move may lead to helpful ideas being discarded. He said issues discussed in parliament should not be judged by party colours but rather should be judged by its content and essence.

He said parliament should be a think tank for initiatives that were designed to improve the livelihoods of Batswana. Mr Rammidi expressed the wish that more jobs could be created in Botswana, adding to attain such a move intellectual capacity was needed.

He said jobs are exported to other countries as minerals are processed outside the country stressing that deprives Batswana their right to benefit from their natural resources.

Therefore, he said minerals should be processed locally to create more jobs for Batswana and in due course change their lives to the better.

He said employers should value their employees and as such should offer better remuneration to cushion workers from the escalating inflation.

He believes the Ministry of Education and Skills Development should get a larger share of the budget to enable the ministry to attain its goals and objectives.

He said more teachers should be recruited and more resources channeled to education ministry to ensure excellent results are achieved.

He said the number of students per class and the ratio of teacher/students should be reasonable in order for the ministry to achieve meaningful results.

For his part council hopeful for Kgosing Ward, Mr Obatleng Masala said national resources should be shared equitably and that entails quality leadership and management skills.

Mr Masala said a good leader should get ideas from people on issues that can benefit them, adding he has got what it takes to push issues of national interest and fast track development.

He said getting ideas from people with regard to their needs is the only way that can help align developments with people’s needs.

He said when the road gets tough a true leader should come up with a solution to the challenges that bedevil the people. Mr Masala said when he assumes power he will initiate village health committees that will sensitise people on waste management to equip the public with the requisite skills to keep the environment clean and make it comply with health standards.

He said when BCP assumes power fronting of businesses is going to come to an end, emphasising that Batswana should be empowered through awarding tenders to local companies to enable them to grow financially as well as for asset accumulation and capacity building purposes. Ends