24 Nov 2015

The deputy district commissioner for Tutume Sub-district council, Mr Michael Chilimba has implored civil leaders together with civil servants to put their minds together towards the implementation of the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP).

Speaking at the opening of the sub-council session on Monday, Mr Chilimba said the programme was a national call in which the government aims at boosting the economy by creating employment for Batswana.

He highlighted that as district commissioners, they have been tasked with the supervision role for the projects. He said they need support from all stakeholders to ensure that there was proper implementation.

He said there have been numerous concerns from the government as well as the public that projects took long to be completed while some were sub-standard.

He noted that in the ESP, there was going to be a different scenario because as supervisors for the coming projects, they have been taken for training so that they could be proficient.

Furthermore, Mr Chilimba cautioned that during the implementation of the programme, every leading hand in the projects should guard against corruption and maladministration.

He pointed out that corruption was one of the major factors which affect projects progress.

Mr Chilimba stressed that the ESP puts ahead of everything execution of the project, and that officers should not put overtime and claims before the work they were supposed to do.

“Payments will come but work should be done in full before anything else,” he said.

He further highlighted that one of the major projects, which would be tackled would be agriculture, noting that it was because the government aims at reducing the import bill, which stands at over P70 billion.

Through improved agricultural output, he said, the country would be able to produce enough food to feed the country and have excess, which could be exported and in return bring increased foreign income.

Mr Chilimba also called for local partnerships in the running of ESP in the sub-district.

Tutume sub-council chairperson, Mr Ishmael Mokgethi said they should be ready for the programme. Ends