12 Sep 2016

Member of Parliament for Kgalagadi North, Mr Itumeleng Moipisi has raised a concern towards slow implementation of Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) in the Hukuntsi Sub-district.

Addressing heads of government departments in Hukuntsi recently, Mr Moipisi said it was disturbing to note that ESP projects in his constituency were moving at a snail pace while some were yet to go through the ground breaking process.

He indicated that it was of great concern that a lot of major projects, which were to be undertaken through ESP had not resumed.

The projects include construction of Kang anti-poaching unit, government revenue offices and 23 Ministry of Health staff houses.

“I am informed that the construction of the anti-poaching unit in Kang, which has been awarded and was supposed to start in January 2016 had not started to date as one contractor had contested the decision of the award and the matter is still before the court of law,” he said.

He, therefore, pleaded with HODs to facilitate and spearhead implementation of ESP projects in order to ensure their success. 

He said even though ESP was private sector driven, civil servants as policy implementers on the ground were key stakeholders to spearhead and coordinate on how best the private sector could implement such projects.

He urged procuring officers to support both macro and micro citizen entrepreneurs by sourcing materials from local producers and suppliers to boost the sustenance of locally owned business entities.

He said the success story of the ESP lies with the good working relationship between the civil service and the district local authority therefore it is crucial that the civil service have a common ground with the local authority on project monitoring.

He indicated that ESP was moreover, a bold blueprint for the urgent delivery of national priorities in keeping with government’s commitment to the nation to achieve accelerated job creation and the eradication of abject poverty along with improvement in the well-being of all Batswana.

Mr Moipisi further applauded government efforts to uplift poverty stricken communities by rolling out poverty eradication programmes geared towards empowering Batswana.

 He however said the water crisis in Kgalagadi hinders government’s poverty eradication efforts since livestock beneficiaries have to barter their small stock with private water suppliers.

He added that water is a scarce resource in Kgalagadi hence government should find ways to relief Kgalagadi from severe water shortage. ENDS