21 Feb 2017

Members of Parliament on Monday (February 20) concluded their debate of the 2017/18 National Budget speech with MP for Lentsweletau-Mmopane, Mr Vincent Seretse saying he fully supports the proposals by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.

MP Seretse said contrary to what opposition MPs have been saying, there are many programmes targeted at the youths, adding on top of the Youth Development Fund (YDF) they can also access Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) funding.

He said he was happy the Ministry of Lands, Water and Sanitation had been allocated more funding to undertake infrastructure development across the country.

The MP said he was happy the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) was proceeding well in his constituency.

He further said he was happy with the funding allocated to the Ministry of Minerals, Green Technology and Energy saying some villages in his constituency would be electrified. MP Seretse said land servicing particularly of industrial plots would lead to investments and consequently, jobs would be created.

Talking about the closure of BCL Mine in Selebi Phikwe, he said the government was doing more to try to attract investors in the town to create jobs.

This, he said, was being done through various programmes such as Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) saying investors are attracted by the government’s willingness to procure goods from them.

However, he said while the government has played its role in creating an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive, the latter lagged behind.

MP Seretse said it would not be ideal for public officers’ salaries to be increased at the moment due to budgetary constraints, adding however, ‘this does not mean the government does not care about their welfare.’

For his part, MP for Jwaneng-Mabutsane, Mr Shawn Ntlhaile said the ‘budget does not show the government’s intention to address challenges currently befalling the country.’

He said for example, the budget does not illustrate specific projects geared towards employment creation and the speech also does not state the number of jobs to be created.

MP Ntlhaile also said there are no specific amounts aimed at youth empowerment.

He said while the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry has a big role to play in luring investors, it has not been provided with sufficient funds.

The Jwaneng-Mabutsane legislator said he was equally concerned about the poor academic results in all levels of education, saying according to investigations, a primary factor was lack of textbooks in schools especially those in his constituency.BOPA