28 Dec 2016

Government has introduced a development fund at constituency level in order to to transform the economy and develop lives.
The development fund would total P570 million in 2017 with each of the 57 constituencies receiving P10 million.
The Assistant Minister of Basic Education, Mr Moiseraele Goya, said this recently when briefing the  village leadership about the new development initiative.
The meeting was attended by village development committees, chiefs, councillors and Palapye Development Advisory Trust (PDAT).
The intended scheme would run parallel to the National Development Plan (NDP) 11 and the popular Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) and would not cause or interrupt any existing development programme.
Mr Goya said the funding, which was meant to augment NDP 11 and ESP, would focus on developments lacking in the constituencies and would be controlled by constituents.
“This initiative will take the bottom-up approach. Residents of Palapye will decide on projects and control expenditure. They will have the final say on what happens with the P10 million meant for Palapye,” he said.
The Palapye legislator suggested that during consultations with the 10 wards, the constituency leadership and the people looked into income-generating projects that would yield tangible benefits to the masses.
“I would like to see increased job and employment opportunities resulting from the projects or activities that the people will decide on. And I know and trust that a proper development agenda will be initiated from this initiative.”
Councillor for Morupule, Mr Jordan Makhura commended the legislator for consulting with the leadership and appealed for the money to be increased since Palapye was growing fast.
“Ten million for Palapye is not that much and looking at the rate of growth and the population, you will understand what I am talking about,' he said.
In his response, the assistant minister revealed that even though the state coffers were low and that government was still recovering from the global economic crises that had a negative impact on growth, government had seen it fit to enhance economic growth at constituency level.
“Let us remember that this is just the beginning, and like they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
He said every financial year, a review would be done and any increase would match the performance of the economy, further advising that those who would be charged with responsibility over the capital should exercise financial prudence of the highest order.
The PDAT secretary, Mr David Jibajiba warned against fighting for the money saying that would stall intended developments.
Constituency development funds had been utilised across the globe by governments transferring capital from central government to the electoral constituencies for grass-root development projects to offset economic growth at lower levels, more especially remote and rural areas. ENDS