22 Mar 2017

Member of Parliament for Bobonong, Mr Shaw Kgathi says government is committed to youth empowerment through various programmes as seen by the budgets of the ministries of basic education, health and wellness as well as defence, justice and security.

Debating the 2017/18 budget for the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, in Parliament on March 20, MP Kgathi said government programmes such as the Youth Development Fund (YDF) were globally competitive.

Thus, he implored the youth empowerment, sport and culture development minister, Mr Thapelo Olopeng, to have a dialogue with his counterpart at the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry to ensure that youth-owned businesses benefited from the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD).

For his part, MP for Nkange, Mr Edwin Batshu urged the minister to shorten the turnaround time because it took a long time for youth to receive funding.

He said he was worried about the low number of youth who had received funding.

MP Batshu called upon Mr Olopeng to assist his area saying youth were assisted through an office in Tutume which was already overwhelmed because it served two many constituencies.

Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone said youth funding programmes were faced with challenges as there was no coordination between ministries.

He said that had resulted with scenarios where youth got funding but were unable to acquire plots for their businesses.

MP Arone called upon the minister to ensure experienced staff was stationed in rural areas and further said there should be an office in Seronga.

Ramotswa MP, Mr Samuel Rantuana said youth should be equipped with entrepreneurial skills from a young age and that should be part of their curriculum at secondary school.

He said during the 2016/17 budget, Minister Olopeng had promised sport complexes for villages near Gaborone but that was not mentioned in the current session.

MP Kostantinos Markus of Maun East said youth in his constituency had not been able to access YDF for two years following reports of mismanagement of funds in the Maun youth office.

MP Markus said he had 10 young people who were interested in establishing a lodge near the Okavango Delta and thus urged the minister to use his position to ensure they were allocated a suitable plot.

MP for Francistown East, Mr Buti Billy said there was need to evaluate the youth empowerment programmes to see if there had been a return on investment.

He said the minister should provide more funding to sport and entertainment.

Mogoditshane MP, Mr Sedirwa Kgoroba said youth in his constituency could not utilise YDF for agricultural purposes due to unavailability of land, adding stringent regulations made it difficult for them to set up other businesses.

He said there should be a scheme targeting employed adults saying because that would encourage them to resign from their jobs thus making way for youth who would in turn create employment opportunities for other youth.

Shashe West MP, Mr Fidelis Molao said government should support youth-owned businesses.

He further said most youth-owned businesses had collapsed because of high rentals and lack of market.

MP Molao said the minister had not mentioned anything in his presentation about centres of excellence for various sport codes which were introduced several years back and there had never been an update on their progress. ENDS