17 Feb 2015

Parliament has approved a total of P432, 9 million as budget for the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs (MLHA) for the financial year 2015/16. 

The amount, proposed by minister, Mr Edwin Batshu, included P381 million as recurrent budget estimates and P52 million as development budget estimates

The development budget figures, represent an increase of 17.8 per cent from the current financial year and includes P44 million which will be spent on the ministry’s computerisation projects while P1.5 million will be used for the fleet expansion project for departments under his ministry.

About P3.9 million will be used in consultancy projects on Gender Based Violence Prevention and Elimination initiatives as well as the EDF-10 Project for the Empowerment of Non-State Actors in Botswana

Thanking MPs for supporting the budget estimate before it was adopted, Mr Batshu said the penalty charged to replace lost Botswana passport is meant to discourage people from losing the passport. He said Botswana passport uses high quality material, therefore is expensive to make. 

Therefore, he said it is proper for people who mishandle the passport and end up losing it to foot expenses of a new one. Contrary to a claim made by one MP, Mr Batshu said making some foreigners to apply for visas before entering Botswana was not being xenophobic. He said it is a standing practice. ENDS