14 Dec 2016

Although Botswana has made developmental strides since independence, the country could have achieved more with greater inventiveness in policy formulation.

Selebi Phikwe West MP, Mr Dithapelo Keorapetse said this while presenting his contribution to the debate on the State-of-the-Nation Address

Mr Keorapetse said Botswana had made progress since independence, but missed the chance to advance further.

“The Botswana of today is different from that of 1966 and we appreciate the construction of schools, roads and the pumping of money into education and healthcare. But we still maintain that this is the function of any government; discovering diamonds, copper, nickel, selling them and using the funds for physical infrastructure is not a sign of exceptional governance,” Mr Keorapetse said.

He said for a 30-year period, Botswana’s economy grew faster than that of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, the four states commonly referred to as the Asian Tigers, countries which made greater developmental progress.

“Between the 1960s and the 1990s, Botswana’s economy grew at around 9.2 per cent, outperforming the Asian Tigers who were growing at around seven per cent.

But while Botswana invested in basic amenities expected of any government, the Tigers were innovative and moved from being underdeveloped nations to being newly industrialised states,” Mr Keorapetse said.

He called for innovative ideas to industralise the economy in order to generate jobs and wealth. He further said that the country has hastily moved on to Vision 2036 without interrogating whether all aspects of Vision 2016 had been adhered to. “Vision 2016 called for the freedom of the press being guaranteed by law and practice, a Freedom of Information Act, mother tongue education, and full employment. Before we move on, we needed to understand why these goals have not been observed,” Mr Keorapetse said.

He said that Selibe Phikwe and its surrounding areas are in dire need of economic assistance.

“We are of the view that BCL mine should have been placed under judicial management as opposed to liquidation, as the closure of the mine has adversely affected the livelihood of the people in Selibe Phikwe and the SPEDU area,” Mr Keorapetse said.

Ghanzi North legislator, Mr Noah Salakae stated that the smaller villages in his constituency are currently struggling with poor water supply and called for the construction of a stadium in Ghanzi, saying the people of the area had long been promised such a development.

Mochudi East MP, Mr Isaac Davids said that parliamentarians should be afforded the chance to engage with the president after he presents the SONA, saying at present nothing forces the head of state to attend parliamentary sessions after presenting his address. ENDS