01 Feb 2016

The Ministry of Education and Skills Development has received the bulk of the 2016/17 recurrent budget.

 When presenting the 2016/17 budget proposals in Parliament yesterday, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo said P36.99 billion was allocated for recurrent budget with the education ministry receiving P10.64 billion or 28.8 per cent of the total amount. 

Mr Matambo said, through the implementation of the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP), government was committed to ensuring that issues of quality of education and skills mismatch were addressed. 

The minister said the allocated amount would also cater for subventions to University of Botswana and other government funded tertiary institutions, increased enrolment for the Botswana International University of Science and Technology, provision for examination costs, maintenance of institutional facilities, feeding for secondary school students and utility costs for various education facilities. 

Mr Matambo said the Ministry of Health had been allocated P5.75 billion to cover costs of drugs, dressings and vaccines, service charges, anti-retroviral therapy, replacement of obsolete medical equipment, running costs for the new teaching hospital and the establishment of the Medicine Regulatory Authority. 

The third largest share at P4.99 billion was proposed for allocation to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. 

This was to cater for revenue support grants to councils, social protection programmes including the old age pension scheme, orphan care programme and the destitute programme. 

The Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security would receive P4.95 billion to cover operational costs for the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Botswana police and Botswana prison services. 

Minister Matambo proposed P2.02 billion for the Ministry of Transport and Communications to cover maintenance of roads, replacement of vehicles, upgrading of the Government Data Network, subvention to the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana and Botswana Post’s Universal Service Obligation costs. 

The Ministry of State President has been allocated P1.11 billion to cover service charges, programme development costs of the Department of Broadcasting Services, printing costs, office rent, Vision 2016 Council winding up expenses and additional budget provision arising from the transfer of District Administration and Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation (PEEPA) to the ministry. 

Minister Matambo said the remaining P7.53 billion or 20.4 per cent would be shared by the remaining ministries departments with the Ministry of Agriculture getting P1.09 billion to cater for service charges, purchase of material, foot and mouth disease and animal identification devices. 

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has been proposed to be allocated P908.53 million to cover subventions for its parastatals, especially Selebi Phikwe Economic Diversification Unit (SPEDU) and its transformation into a company limited by guarantee. 

On the Statutory Expenditure, the minister proposed P6.91 billion, which is a decrease of 12.9 per cent compared to P7.93 billion allocated for the 2015/16 financial year. Ends