08 Nov 2015

There is little doubt that Batswana’s expectations are high as they eagerly wait to hear President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama deliver the nation’s socio-economic roadmap.

President Khama is expected to devote bulk of his State-of-the-Nation Address, on Monday November 9, to the recently announced Economic Stimulus Programme.

The President recently made an announcement of the much anticipated economic programme whose objective is to stimulate the economy for accelerated employment creation and economic diversification amongst others.

Though the speech will predominantly focus on the economy, Batswana will also expect topical issues like energy and water to feature on President Khama’s address. 

They would love to hear him provide an explanation to the crippling water supply that has bedeviled the nation up to this clock.

Though the multi-million pula North South Water carrier scheme is progressing quite well, the frequent shut down of the pipeline owing to maintenance work has left the Greater Gaborone area undergoing lengthy dry spells.

Batswana are waiting with bated breath on what government is going to do to stabilise the situation again.

In early September, President Khama commissioned the Masama well-fields, a P340 million project that took 19 months to complete, as part of government’s commitment to augment water provision needs of the country

The address may also be characterised by announcement of major projects like the extension of the Morupule B Unit 5 and 6 and also power purchase agreement deals with regional power utilities, some of the efforts currently on the table to keep the lights on.

President Khama could also shed light on the progress made on the solar energy initiatives.

Another key element in Gen Khama’s address will be government’s intentions of coming up with new strategies for curbing youth unemployment.

He is expected to reflect on youth empowerment programmes that government introduced in the past as a way of devising various strategies to engage youth in socio-economic development.

Government introduced the National Internship Programme in 2010 as a platform for skills transfer and development and reintroduced the Tirelo Sechaba programme.

The Youth Development Fund was also introduced to support young entrepreneurs to finance and grow their business ideas and variably create employment opportunities.

There is also the Youth Empowerment Scheme, an initiative from the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture in collaboration with other ministries to empower young people who did not have the privilege of proceeding to higher education with entrepreneurial and survival skills. ENDS