21 Mar 2016

The mayor for Sowa Town, councillor George Maphane says the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) is a national development initiative aimed at improving the livelihoods of Batswana. 

Addressing the Sowa council meeting, councillor Maphane noted that the country’s economy has been on recess since 2008 because of economic downturn which was experienced by the world and stringent measures which involved adjustment of national expenditure trends and deferral of most development projects that were earmarked for the period were put in place. 

He said the scenario had a bearing on the performance of the economy and it was as such that the government decided to introduce ESP with the  aim of transforming the country’s economic landscape by stimulating economic growth through diversification of the economy and accelerating employment creation for citizens through citizen empowerment scheme that would eventually reduce the import bill.  

Councillor Maphane said the current situation in terms of import bill calls for action and that the government has earmarked the agricultural sector as one of the sectors which would be enhanced through ESP and urged Batswana to venture into modern farming which give high yields. 

The mayor noted that venturing into modern technology farming,  farmers would be able to produce enough food to serve the country and even export hence increase foreign revenue for the country while reducing the import bill. “The aspiration of the programme will require a paradigm shift from all of us,” he said.

He further highlighted that in Sowa expression of interest for projects to undertaken through ESP would be closed on March 22 for a double classroom block with eight cubicle toilets and two three bedroom houses at Sowa Primary School.

On other issues, councillor Maphane informed the house that as one of pilot districts on Local Economic Development (LED), Sowa has gone ahead and done a Local Economic Assessment (LEA) for their locality because the assessment plays an important role in providing the district with clear understanding of the local economic conditions or state of the local economy. 

He said at the moment, the council through the technical task team, has drafted a LED strategy for the district based on the findings from the local economic assessment exercise and once the strategy was ready it would be shared with all stakeholders for ownership and implementation. Ends