14 Dec 2016

Botswana should explore innovative ways of diversifying the economy, the Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Dr Alfred Madigele has told Parliament.

Delivering his contribution to the State-of-the-Nation Address in Parliament on Tuesday, Dr Madigele said the country should leverage on its natural resource base to create value chain addition industries.

“We speak of envisioning a knowledge based society through Vision 2036 and as such we must use this knowledge to pursue and implement ideas of diversifying our economy. We should work on establishing manufacturing companies to add value to our natural resources; we could create industries out of sodium chloride and the coal to liquid process that can create a viable petroleum industry,” Dr Madigele said.

Mmadinare Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Kefentse Mzwinila lauded the government for the Youth Development Fund (YDF) and constituency sport and arts tournaments.

“The youth is clearly being empowered, and the high uptake of the YDF and the large numbers of those involved in the constituency tournaments bears proof that these programmes are keeping the youth actively engaged, away from negative activity,” Mr Mzwinila said.

Furthermore, he called for protectionist measures to be employed by the state in the agricultural sector, in order to support the nascent local industry to grow and become more commercial.

He also said that the closure of the BCL mine would adversely impact on his constituency, but expressed the hope that the government’s turnaround strategy for Selibe Phikwe and the SPEDU area would bear fruit.

Mr Mzwinila commended military spending, saying that for the national army to be always well equipped ensures the safety and security of the country.

“The plans to ensure the re-equipping, improving processes and systems of the army are quite timely and commendable. We must ensure that our army builds a modern retaliatory capacity, which is a deterrent for potential enemies and helps extend the peace we enjoy,” Mr Mzwinila said. ENDS