03 Dec 2015

Botswana should be wise in her selection process of immigrants who are allowed to work and live in Botswana, the MP for Nkange , Mr Edwin Batshu has said.

Delivering his contribution to the State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) debate in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Batshu, who is also the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, said that the country is in a position where it needs the skills and investment of foreigners, while not desiring untoward elements.

“We need investors as a country, and we should be able to target those expatriates who would generate jobs and add value to our country,” Mr Batshu said.

“But we also have to consider the safety of our country, avoid people engaged in activities that can put the country in harm’s way.  Even during the days of the Southern African liberation struggles, our country, while opposed to minority rule in neighbouring states would not allow itself to be used as a base for regional liberation forces to attack their home countries.  We knew that Botswana did not have the capacity to defend those asylum seekers if their countries retaliated,” Mr Batshu said.

Adding that Botswana is a flourishing democracy, Mr Batshu expressed gratitude for the role played by opposition parties, whom he said nurture the country’s democratic climate.

“But I have to caution the country against a coalition of parties coming together for the sake of seeking to govern.  The experience in other countries that if there is a change of government, and the incoming leadership is made up of a coalition, the government usually becomes fragmented and national progress is derailed. T

he BNF, BCP, BMD and BPP should prove themselves individually to the electorate,” he said.

He further praised the role played by the civil service in the development of the country since independence, saying that government workers had been pivotal in the developmental strides made over the past 49 years.

Mr Batshu added a word of caution that the civil service should stay apolitical in order to continue being efficient.

Furthermore, Mr Batshu called for the monitoring of the government’s agricultural programmes such as LIMID, stating that a situation whereby beneficiaries always purchase goats from the same farmer is tantamount to corruption and dis-empowers other farmers.

The Member of Parliament for Letlhakeng-Takatokwane, Mr Ngaka Ngaka praised President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama for his speech. “We have a leader who speaks directly to our people’s situation, addressing issues that are relevant to the day to day lives of our people, not the poetic jargon we often hear from across the parliamentary aisle,” he said.

Mr Ngaka urged the government to work on improving the livelihood of people in Kweneng West villages, saying that they are among the hardest hit by poverty in the country.

He said that people from those villages have to be considered first if there is farming land to be allocated. Ends