01 Mar 2018

Parliament has approved the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs’s budget request of over P374 million and more than P62 million as recurrent and development budget expenditures for the 2018/2019 financial year respectively.

Presenting the budget proposals before Parliament on February 28, Minister Edwin Batshu said the recurrent budget represented an increase of more than P61 million or 19.8 per cent, whilst the development budget represented an increase of 13.6 per cent over the 2017/2018 financial year’s budget.

The minister requested an allocation of more than P57 million and more than P194 million for headquarters and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship respectively. Under the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s budget, he said part of the money would go towards the creation of about 80 additional posts to address the challenge of human resource.

Additionally, he said under the Gender Affairs Department, more than P54 million was required, indicating that it would also go towards the creation of about 36 posts in order to augment the 89 offices that the department had been operating with.

“For the Department of Civil and National Registration, we are asking for more than P68 million which will also facilitate the engagement or creation of new posts, about 35, to augment the little staff levels that we have had,” added minister Batshu.

Debating the budget proposals, Vice President and Moshupa/Manyana MP, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi praised minister Batshu for a well presented budget proposal, saying he was a distinguished public servant.

He said it was useful that Mr Batshu began his presentation by reminding Parliament of the purpose of his ministry and what it did to serve Batswana.

“It is essentially a security ministry and, it being so, needs the vigilance that has been displayed by the minister and his staff and for that, we remain very grateful,” he said.

Mr Masisi said Moshupa/Manyana residents were grateful for the services that minister Batshu rendered them.

He informed the minister that his constituents requested that in his Omang budget, he should ensure he enhanced the delivery of service to them, and improve the professional conduct of those who delivered it.

“Moshupa/Manyana residents also request you to be dispassionate in reaching out to the hard to reach to access this service that you provide, for the Omang card defines who you are and places you on the foot print of Botswana, in terms of your identity and dignity,” he said.

Furthermore, Mr Masisi said Baherero had appealed to him to request the minister to be sensitive to the cultural nuisance of what it meant to be a Herero woman of stature and what the head gear meant to such and everybody else.

For that reason, Mr Masisi said “communication must go out to them, so in the end if need be, they make informed choice of whether they want travel documents that would allow them to travel in a restricted area or not travel at all or get an internationally recognised one where they will not be required that they remove the head gear.”

“These are challenging times, but we are a sensitive, sensibly, feeling, caring and consummate government and party. So, Mr minister, I applaud you for being a repository of that. You have no competition.

You are heading shoulders above the rest, so, go out and show it to them that this is what we are made of,” he added.

Tati East MP, Mr Guma Moyo also commended Mr Batshu and his staff for the job that their ministry was doing, and urged the minister to ensure his ministry speeded up issuance and renewal of Omang cards, as currently it took a long time for one to acquire Omang after applying for a new one or renewing the expired one.

Mr Moyo also requested for improvement of turnaround times for visa and citizenship applications.

Chobe MP, Mr Machana Shamukuni expressed concern about the alarming statistics of divorce rates, saying they negatively affected children in families.

“As government we should engage in thorough research to find out the root cause or the contributing factors to these divorces because we are currently assuming that divorces are caused by transfers or financial problems,” he said.

Gaborone Bonnington North MP and Leader of the Opposition, Mr Duma Boko said the minister should ensure that the Department of Intelligence and Security Services did not meddle in his ministry affairs, more especially with regard to issuance of visas, saying this could discourage investors or affect foreign direct investment.

Tonota South MP, Mr Thapelo Olopeng urged the minister to review some of his ministry laws that were unfavourable to Bazezuru’s culture. He also appealed to the minister to address shortage of staff at the Omang office in Tonota, saying currently there were only four permanent and pensionable employees.

Mahalapye West MP, Mr Joseph Molefhe thanked and applauded Mr Batshu and his staff for their commitment in delivering the ministry mandate.

He requested the minister to consider building permanent offices for Immigration, Omang and Gender offices in Mahalapye, saying currently the offices were small.

He also requested the minister to consider speeding up the issuance of visas, work permits and citizenships.

Kgalagadi North MP, Mr Itumeleng Moipisi said it was imperative for the ministry to speed up issuance and renewal of Omang cards as the country was heading towards election. ENDS