24 May 2013

 The Village Development Committee (VDC) of Robelela has requested government to revamp the collapsed P600 000 funded youth poultry project in their village.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting addressed by the Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Dr Gloria Somolekae in Robelela recently, VDC chairperson Mr George Morupisi, said the project failed due to poor records keeping.

He said the poultry project also did not have a constitution that regulated it which, he said, led to the project failing, adding that the vegetable garden within the poultry premises also died due to water shortage.

Mr Morupisi said should their plea be heard, the poultry project would go a long way in creating employment and income for the youth in the village.

 On other issues, Mr Morupisi said three people have been selected to benefit from a bakery project, under the alternative packages programme, while eight residents are due to start small stock rearing projects and two have been selected to undertake a sowing project and a fashion design project respectively.

In her response, Dr Somolekae said that the government was committed to empowering Batswana through poverty eradication programmes and other means.

She said the failure of the Robelela youth poultry project showed that the project was not carefully run, and that a rural development council has called for a forensic audit to determine what caused the failure.

She said after the audit the government would consider whether to revamp the project or not.

Dr Somolekae noted that Botswana has over 40 000 people living under abject poverty, adding that it was a serious challenge.

She urged Batswana to take advantage of programmes availed by the government to empower themselves in order to reduce poverty and help diversify the economy and develop the country.  ENDS