08 Jul 2015

Members of Parliament have rejected an urgent motion requesting parliament to task the Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises Committee to investigate the current water and power crisis in the country. 

The urgent motion that was presented before parliament by Gaborone North MP, Mr Haskins Nkaigwa was defeated by a majority of 22 votes to 16 through an electronic voting mechanism.

As per Standing Order 50.1, Mr Nkaigwa proposed that parliament adjourn business and debate a motion on the power and water situation in Botswana.

Following Mr Nkaigwa’s proposal, as per the Standing Order No. 50.3, which states that: “If the Speaker is so satisfied and indeed four members rise in their praise to support the question, the request in question shall be proposed to the House,” the National Assembly deputy speaker and Gaborone South MP, Mr Kagiso Molatlhegi posed the question to the members to decide through the vote on whether they supported the request.

And four MPs supported Gaborone North MP’s proposal for adjournment of the business of the House to debate the water and power crisis urgent motion, namely; Letlhakeng/Lephephe MP, Mr Liakat Kablay, Selebi-Phikwe West MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse, Mmathethe/Molapowabojang MP, Dr Alfred Madigele and Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi. 

Presenting the motion, before it was rejected, Mr Nkaigwa said despite all the undertakings by the leadership of the country that power cuts and water crisis would be a thing of the past; Batswana still continued to experience extensive power cuts and water shortage.

“Water and electricity are the principle drivers of our economy. We cannot live without water and electricity, hence my decision to bring this motion on urgency,” he said. 

Despite all the efforts and investments by the country on power and water in the country, Mr Nkaigwa said Batswana still continued to experience no water and no power within their own localities. 

“I remember, if am right, that Botswana has invested over P11 billion to generate power at Morupule B Power Plant. We have also invested billions to construct dams at the Northern part of this country, but despite all these efforts we still continue to experience no water and no power,” he said.

For that reason, he added that “we want to know what actually happened, what happened to the level of investment, what happened to our money and we also want to know how long this situation will take for Batswana and investors to experience normal water and electricity.”

Having invested so extensively on the water and power sectors, Gaborone North MP said the country should not be experiencing power and water cuts. 

By now, he said the situation should have stabilised, adding that someone should account for the current power and water cuts.

Power and water, he said were very key to any economy, as “you cannot expect investors to be confident on the economy of the country if you don’t have power and water.” 

As a legislator, Mr Nkaigwa said he was worried that if the country continued to experience continuous power and water cuts, it would affect investor confidence of the country, local businesses, manufacturers and production in the country. 

“This is a serious economic trend to the country, hence the need for us as parliament to investigate this matter as a matter of urgency,” he added.

Therefore, he said if tasked to investigate the current water and power crisis in the country, the Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises Committee would be rightly mandated to come up with a report that would give a clear picture on the matter. ENDS