14 Nov 2017

President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama, whose term of office is drawing to a close, has been hailed for having kept Botswana intact despite the challenges that characterised his tenure.

MPs who contributed to the ongoing response to the State of the Nation Address (SONA)  that President Khama delivered at the start of the current session of Parliament a week ago, paid glowing tribute to him saying he had done remarkably well given the prevailing circumstances.

Specially-Elected MP and also Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Mr Eric Molale labelled as false, aspersions by some that the president was leaving Botswana in a worse-off state than he had found it when he took over the presidency.

He also criticised those who argued that President Khama had failed to deliver on his 5Ds, noting that while the Ds were not explicitly spelt out in the SONA, the speech was awash with proof that they had, contrary to such beliefs, been delivered upon. He said

Botswana’s democracy was even more entrenched today than it had been before the President took over, indicating that this was characterised by the political stability and lack of violence that that had become the norm in the other nations.

On development, Minister Molale observed that the president’ speech was packed with developments, both completed and ongoing; something that he said was evidence that the D on development had been delivered on.

He said it was necessary to note that the lack of funds to undertake all development projects that the nation may have wished to implement was itself not a sign that government had failed its people.

He said Botswana being a part of the global community was not immune to problems besieging other countries, explaining that like the rest of the world, the country had, during President Khama’s tenure also felt the impact of the global economic meltdown.

On dignity, Mr Molale said interventions such as the Presidential Housing Appeal and the extension of SHHA to public officers were among those that had served to help restore the dignity of some Batswana.

MP Samson Guma of Tati East said the most important thing was for President Khama to have given the nation a brief on the state of the country’s economy.

In the course of doing so, Mr Guma said the president had done well to highlight the issue of corruption, which he described as a cancerous evil that had to be prevented at all cost.

Mr Guma noted that it was worrying that even some political leaders were being suspected of corrupt practices.

Praising President Khama for his leadership of the nation, the legislator pointed out that the President had during his term, not shied away from making decisions, something that he said President Khama ought to be commended for.

MP Mephato Reatile also hailed

President Khama as a compassionate person who had advanced the interests of Batswana even in the most difficult situations.

Specially-Elected legislator said when the World Bank, in its engagements with Botswana, highlighted how huge the country’s wage bill was, the president and his government had decided against reducing the size of the public service as doing so would have plunged many Batswana into more financial difficulties.

On other issues, the MP noted that time had come for Botswana to come up with laws that would compel foreign-owned financial institutions to invest half of their profits locally.

He said in other countries such as Namibia, foreign-owned companied were compelled to do so, a situation that he said added greatly to the growth of the economy of such countries.

Mr Reatile decried the late payments of employees by some security companies. What was sad, he observed, was that even those contracted by government could go for as long as three months without paying their workers.

He thus urged government to devise strategies of addressing this growing trend.

MP Botlogile Tshireletso of Mahalapye East commended President Khama for having made his detractors eat humble pie by deciding to leave office at the end of his term contrary to talk especially by opposition politicians that would hold on to power.

Ms Tshireletso, who is also Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development also applauded the President for ensuring that during his term of office, Botswana had its first female Speaker of the National Assembly.

She said for there having been two women Speakers during his tenure was a feat worthy of commendation.

She said the President’s track-record would remained engrained in the minds of Batswana as he had traversed the breath and width of the country interacting with the nation.

She also thanked him for initiatives such as the ministers’ phone-in programme, community service days as well as the Presidential Housing Appeal, which came into being during his term of office.

Further, she commended the Ministry of Health and Wellness for the Treat All initiative through, which those who test HIV-positive are enrolled into Anti-retroviral Therapy regardless of their CD4 count. BOPA