21 Mar 2019

 Moshupa-Manyana Member of Parliament Mr Karabo Gare says government should consider re-funding youth-owned businesses that are re-paying their loans well.

Debating the proposed budget allocations for the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development on March 19, Mr Gare said the move would serve the country better instead of continuing to channel more money into new businesses.

Furthermore, he noted that it was critical to set targets on returns of investments as well as ascertain sustainability of the businesses for which funding was sought prior to injecting funding into them.

Nata-Gweta legislator Mr Polson Majaga urged government to consider increasing funding available to youth businesses through the different youth empowerment schemes.

In addition, he observed that it was also necessary to re-package the schemes by encouraging potential beneficiaries to group themselves into co-operatives instead of applying for funding individually.

Mr Majaga also advocated for re-funding of existing youth-owned businesses so as to spur growth.

For his part, MP for Gaborone-Bonnington North Advocate Duma Boko said government had failed to address the plight of the youth as the interventions in place were not relevant and therefore incapable to meet the demands of the country’s young people.

Adv Boko observed that there were no measures in place to enable the youth to take advantage of opportunities available in different sectors of the economy, adding that government had not done much to cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship among the youth.

Mahalapye West MP Mr Joseph Molefe argued that the youth lacked entrepreneurial skills, indicating that it was therefore necessary that they were capacitated to run businesses prior to their businesses being funded.

Mr Molefe added that the Youth Development Fund (YDF) needed to be reviewed and re-modelled with the view to ascertaining their effectiveness and identifying ways of improving the scheme.  

Like the others, he pleaded for the increasing of the funding available to the youth through YDF.

MP Tlamelo Mmatli of Molepolole South pointed out that paying lip service to the youth today was equal to doing the country a disservice as it would in the long term have to grapple with a highly dependent population of elderly people.

Dr Mmatli said it was disappointing that there was no demonstration of commitment by government to create jobs for its unemployed citizens. ENDS