20 Feb 2017

Member of Parliament for Nkange constituency, Mr Edwin Batshu has advised government not to close down the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) abattoir in Francistown because it could operate sustainably.
Commenting on the budget speech on Thursday, Mr Batshu explained that farmers in the abattoir’s catchment would be willing to sell cattle to the abattoir if the lengthy payment period could be adjusted.

The legislator said the currently scenario where it takes around three months for farmers to be paid after their cattle had been slaughtered by BMC drives farmers away from doing business with the Commission.

“Farmers complain that BMC takes a long time to pay them. This is the reason why they don't sell their cattle to it, but there are a lot of cattle in the catchment area," Mr Batshu explained.

He said if the waiting period for payment could be reduced to three days, like it used to be, people would sell their cattle to BMC.

Mr Batshu, who congratulated the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Mr Kenneth Matambo for presenting a good budget speech, urged government to reinforce wildlife control measures to prevent animals from destroying crops. “Farmers in my constituency are complaining that wild animals destroy their crops,” he said.

He also proposed for the introduction of toll gates on roads to assist government raise revenue.

Commenting, MP for Ramotswa, Mr Samuel Rantuana said shortage of technological skills hampers economic diversification. The legislator said diversification would only succeed if government prioritised investment in human capital development. He said it was impossible to develop scientific and technological skills while laboratories in secondary schools still lack equipment.

"After so many years of independence, we still have unemployable graduates. Human capital development should start at schools, and we should prioritise equipping laboratories in our schools. Almost all secondary schools have laboratories that lack equipment for science and technology," he said. The legislator further said the budget for health, should be increased to cater for rising cases of non-communicable diseases which have stretched the health services.

Mr Rantuana also complained about shortage of water around the country, saying the ‘situation is worse in Ramotswa.’

Furthermore, he asked the Minister of Finance and Economic Development to explain when the proposed railway line linking Botswana to the dry-port in Namibia would be developed. BOPA