01 Mar 2017

Parliament has approved a budget for the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Development for the 2017/18 financial year amounting to P367 555 236.

The budget includes P312 495 470 as recurrent expenditure and P55 059 766 as development expenditure.

Nationality, immigration and gender affairs minister, Mr Edwin Batshu said on February 28 that P48.3 million from the development expenditure would be spent on the ministry’s computerisation projects such as the Integrated Systems Development, Automated Fingerprint Identification System Project, and computerisation of border posts as well as installation of public key directory.

He further explained that the remaining P6.7 million would be shared by consultancy projects for the Gender Based Violence Prevention and Elimination Study, Establishment and Strengthening of Safe Havens for victims and survivors of gender based violence and human trafficking, Empowerment of Non-State Actors in Botswana, and Gender Mainstreaming Consultancies.

From the recurrent expenditure, Mr Batshu pointed that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship would get P165.3 million, while the Department of Civil and National Registration would be allocated P61.5 million.

The minister further said Gender affairs department would get an increased allocation of P48 million, revealing that the reason for the increase was to cater for the Women Economic Empowerment Programme. Ministry headquarters will receive P37.5 million.

“My ministry continues to monitor the socio-economic status of women. The Women Economic Empowerment Programme was last reviewed in July 2016 to address identified gaps. These include raising the minimum qualification benefits from P500 to P1 000,” he said.

The minister explained that a total of 548 business proposals have been approved for funding at a total cost of P104 760 985 since the review of the programme.

Commenting on the presentation, MP of Nata-Gweta, Mr Polson Majaga expressed happiness at the increase in allocation for women empowerment programme.

He said it showed that the ministry was serious about fighting poverty and creating employment opportunities.

The legislator also complained about the mushrooming of churches, stating that the new churches made a lot of noise.

The MP of Francistown East, Mr Buti Billy advised the ministry to hire more staff to assist in the processing of backlog applications for women empowerment projects.

MP for Sefhare-Ramokgonami, Ms Dorcas Makgato urged the ministry to find solutions to gender based violence.

She also said payment for work permits for foreigners should be reduced from the current P3 000, saying the amount is steep.

She also asked for hiring of more staff at the Martin’s Drift Border Post to deal with the high volume of trucks using the border.

Mahalapye East MP, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso expressed concern over the increasing cases of gender based violence, urging the ministry to address the issue.

MP for Kanye South, Mr Abram Kesupile called for strengthening of legislation to protect women from gender based violence.

Mr Kesupile also asked the ministry to create funding for women in the creative sectors. ENDS