02 Dec 2015

Some Members of Parliament are of the view that to ensure success of the Economic Stimulus Programme, salaries for the working class need to be increased.

Responding to the State-of-the-Nation Address, Gaborone South MP, Mr Kagiso Molatlhegi said for the economy to grow, people need to have more disposable income.

Mr Molatlhegi argued that the purchasing power amongst Batswana had drastically gone down, saying it might be contributing to the slow growth of the country’s economy.

Therefore, Mr Molatlhegi pleaded with the government to review public service salaries and to also consider increasing the minimum wage for Ipelegeng workers and old age pension among others, saying it would mean more disposable income for Batswana.

Furthermore, the Gaborone South MP said the government constituted a large portion of employment in the country, hence the need to increase salaries because the private sector benchmarked from the government when it came to salary adjustments.

“If government does not increase public service salaries, the private sector will also not increase salaries and the country’s economy will be slow to grow,” he said.

He also said instead of just creating more jobs through the ESP, it would be best if the government increased public service salaries for more purchasing power.

“For the ESP to work, these are some of the core issues that the government needs to handle,” said Mr Molatlhegi.

Mochudi West MP, Mr Gilbert Mangole also concurred with Mr Molatlhegi on the need for salary increment for workers.

He said many Batswana did not have the money to buy because of low wages, hence the circulation of cash was also low, adding that consumers were the drivers of the economy.

Mr Mangole, however, said the ESP should have been introduced during the time when the country was hard hit by the economic downturn and not now when the country was recovering.

On the issue of water and electricity, Mr Mangole said the government had spent billions of Pulas on projects that failed and attributed this to the lack of management and proper supervision of projects.  Ends