01 Aug 2013

All government departments are responsible for poverty eradication, says Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe.

Giving a vote of thanks at the seventh poverty eradication workshop at Damochujenaa in the Mmadinare constituency on August 1, Dr Kedikilwe,  said all the departments should know that they had a role to play and that their main objective should be to eradicate poverty.

He said the workshop was organised to enable the less fortunate members of society to help themselves to get out of poverty. He added that the objective was to instill dignity on poverty-striken individuals. He told beneficiaries to ignore the critics of the programme, saying their hope was to see the initiative fail. 

Dr Kedikilwe, who is also the Member of Parliament for Mmadinare, implored government departments to work together as a unit so that they could be able to achieve their goal of eradicating poverty, adding that education was important in executing the plan.

Dr Kedikilwe thanked Anglo American through their representative, Mr Jonathan Samuel for supporting the country in its efforts to grow and sustain small and micro enterprises in a partnership that would provide advisory, mentoring and financial support to the enterprises. He said government had realised that Anglo American could help the country achieve its objective because they had visionary programmes that could improve people’s lives.

Dr Kedikilwe also appealed to beneficiaries to take the programmes seriously so that they could learn and grow to become Botswana’s next entrepreneurs of note. He applauded beneficiaries for heeding the government’s call to start the journey of stepping out of poverty, adding that  government would support them all the way.

He also commended the cabinet committee on poverty eradication under the leadership of Minister Mokgweetsi Masisi and its task team for ensuring that the workshop is a success. ENDS