16 Feb 2017

The MP for Boteti East, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe has said he was happy with the budget as proposed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development. Debating the 2017/18 national budget proposals on Wednesday, MP Lelatisitswe said he welcomed the government’s water projects to be undertaken saying this was a troublesome issue in his constituency. He said he was happy with the Local Economic Development initiative but said it should be a law, rather than a policy as it would compel government officials to procure goods within the local communities. MP Lelatisitswe further said it was good for the Ministry of Basic Education to be allocated a lion’s share of the recurrent budget as the schools needed maintenance and stationery. He said the number of pupils in his constituency has grown tremendously and therefore need a new primary school.MP Lelatisitswe further said sub districts should become fully fledged districts as people especially in Central District, still have to travel long distances to access services.MP for Kanye South, Mr Abram Kesupile said the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security could have been given more funding as the sector could take Batswana out of the jaws of poverty. He said the Minister of Finance and Economic Development in his 2016/17 budget speech, mentioned that government would draw water from Lesotho, but this had not happened. MP Kesupile said he wondered if the government’s deadline of eradicating abject poverty by December 2017 was attainable.He further said the new Land Policy has not brought changes as people are still waiting to be allocated plots. ENDS