20 Mar 2018

Gabane-Mmankgodi legislator, Major General Pius Mokgware has asked the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi to address the conditions of service of Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Botswana Police Services (BPS) and Botswana Prisons Services employees.

Contributing to the debate of the ministry’s budget proposal for the 2018/19 financial year on Monday, Maj. Gen. Mokgware said the security forces employees were not happy about their conditions of service.

He pointed that the soldiers’ salaries were low and urged the minister to push for their increment since soldiers had no trade unions representing their interests.

“We should from time to time have a salaries commission to look into their salaries. The last time they had a significant increase was a long time back. I don’t think that is right,” said the legislator.

He further complained about poor accommodation for army, police and prisons officers, saying the minister should build more houses for them rather than spend large amounts of money on the procurement of sophisticated air equipment for the defence force. 

Mr Kgathi had presented a budget proposal of over P5.8 billion under the recurrent estimates as well as over P2.7 billion in development expenditure to be used by the ministry in the 2018/19 financial year.

The legislators supported the budget proposal with Mmathethe -Molapowabojang MP, Dr Alfred Madigele asking the ministry to device an efficient strategy to combat the increasing incidents of stock theft around the country.

He said the theft had become rampant around the Gasita area in his constituency and called for the police to increase the helicopter patrols in the affected areas to deter the thieves. Dr Madigele further asked for the provision of police posts at Metlobo and Gasita villages, which he said had recorded a rise in criminal activities.

Maun East MP, Mr Konstantinos Markus asked for construction of a second police station in Maun because the town has challenges of increased criminal activities. 

The legislator further asked for the police to be provided with more vehicles because they currently struggle with shortage of transport.

Gaborone Central MP, Dr Phenyo Butale urged the minister to speed up the implementation of the new structure for the prisons, police and army, which could help to improve their work conditions.

Dr Butale said the prisons officers were particularly hit hard by the issue of shortage of accommodation, asking for the problem to be addressed. He also urged the minister to look at the violation of workers’ rights by the private security companies.

MP for Mahalapye West, Mr Joseph Molefe asked the ministry to increase the number of police officers since the present number was insufficient to tackle the increasing criminal activities. 

He further asked for provision of a police post in Tewane village in his constituency. 

MP for Ramotswa, Mr Samuel Rantuana asked the ministry to address the shortage of accommodation for police officers in Ramotswa. ENDS