17 Mar 2013

Parliament has approved the sum of P479 214 570 and P74 491 000 for the recurrent and development budget respectively to be allocated to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture for the 2013/2014 financial year.

The MP for Mogoditshane, Mr Patrick Masimolole called on the minister to keep a close eye on funds that are allocated to sporting codes through the Botswana National Sports Council such as the Botswana Football Association.

 He explained that it was not fair that whenever Parliament, which approved the funds asked such organisations to account, it was deemed as political interference by FIFA.

 Mr Masimolole highlighted that as MPs they had a right to ensure that these funds were used for their intended purposes to avoid instances of misuse which were prevalent as evidenced by allegations that crop up time and again.

He also said that it was surprising that Botswana was still importing football administrators from abroad in this era.

 The MP for Kgalagadi North, Mr Phillip Khwae complained about the unavailability of libraries in the Hukuntsi Sub-district which he said led to poor performance by learners in examinations.

The MP called on the ministry to build football pitches of acceptable standard in his constituency. He also requested the building of regional youth centres which would cater for the youth in the area.

 The MP for Chobe, Mr Gibson Nshimwe applauded the ministry for ensuring that the country was awarded the right to hosts the 2014 African Youth Games and asked that in future such events should be taken to other parts of the country.

 However, he decried the fact that in his constituency, they were long promised a football pitch which has not come to fruition.

“We are relying on the Prisons football grounds to host league games and should they change the arrangement we will have nowhere to turn to,” he said.

On other issues, he informed Parliament that ever since the librarian in Satau was transferred, there had been no replacement. He also said that the ministry should be at the forefront of encouraging Batswana to preserve intangible cultural heritage.

The MP for Kanye North, Mr Kentse Rammidi challenged the minister to state the role of the Botswana National Youth Council at a time when the youth in the country were faced with lot of challenges.

 The MP said it was embarrassing that they only heard the voice of BNYC when there was a fight for funds at the organisation and called on the minister to be firm when dealing with the issue.

When responding, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Mr Shaw Kgathi acknowledged the concerns raised by MPs and said interventions were in place to avail  sport facilities for sports development.

 He also informed Parliament that the sports development strategy would be developed alongside the Sports Bill.

On other issues, he agreed that talent identification at grassroots level should be intensified and decentralised to areas that are outside towns.

Consequently, he informed MPs that athletes who attained glory at major sporting events were counselled by social workers and financial management specialists through the Botswana National Olympic Committee to deal with their newly acquired status.

Minister Kgathi noted that as a ministry, they believed that their budget was too low to bring the desired results in youth, sport and cultural activities.

He also expressed concern about the conduct of the BNYC but asked Parliament to give him time to groom the young leaders into responsible adults who can better serve the youth. ENDS