28 Apr 2019

Minister of Youth Empowerment, Culture and Sport Development, Mr Tshekedi Khama has challenged the youth to generate fresh ideas along recycling of waste, renewable energy and fixing spots on the roads which were swept away by cyclone Dineo.

Speaking at Serowe Youth Business Pitso under the auspices of Life Education Centre of Botswana (LECEBO), Minister Khama informed the youth that they could generate income from recycling and reusing waste while others could tap on solar energy, sectors he said were lucrative and virtually uncharted.

Conceding that the youth of Botswana formed a big constituency of 60 per cent of the national population, Minister Khama informed the youth that they belonged to an era of recycling and reusing of waste unlike their seniors who belonged to the era of disposal of waste material.

Consequently, Minister Khama who is also the Serowe West MP rallied the youth to think and dream big in devising winning ideas and presenting them to his ministry for funding.

Describing himself as a minister who runs things a bit unorthodox, Mr Khama challenged government to change ways of conducting business especially with the youth.

Minister Khama observed that many government departments were rigid coupled with lack of urgency in assisting the youth.

He found it ‘fundamentally wrong’ to return remaining ministry’s development funds to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning arguing that business environment changed throughout the year even before some funds could be utilised fully as they had already been allocated to some projects.

A deterrent to a prospering youth in business, Minister Khama observed that it was the old generation which  locked the doors leading to the youth’s successes

This, he observed was contrary to the theme of the Serowe Youth in Business Pitso, ‘Step Up and Unlock the Potential of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise in 2019 and Beyond’.

Minister Khama questioned the idea of rewarding public officers with long service awards. He questioned if the award rewards stellar performance or just mere longevity, which was always the case in his findings.

As an amelioration to satisfy the biggest constituency of the population, youth, the Serowe West legislator proposed to engage various ministers whose portfolios had youth components to address the youth on how best their ministries could be of benefit to them.

The move, he said, was necessitated by the findings that the less than P 1 billion allocated to his ministry for youth programmes was insufficient to cater for around 1.4 million youth who sought empowerment from his ministry.

He challenged the youth to guide his ministry and the government to the shape they desired the country to take.

His endeavor is to engage and empower youth meaningfully. “Once you are empowered what do you do with that?” Minister Khama asked rhetorically.

He urged the youth to broaden their scope saying that they could not always be sustainable in Botswana because sometimes their services and or products could prosper better beyond Botswana borders.

Although he encouraged the youth to turn entrepreneurial, he warned that reality dictated that not all youth would be businesspersons and advised them to engage thriving businesses in the same field to learn the ropes.

Kgosi Omphile Motsokono said that the youth were plagued by unemployment which had seen many young men take to crime. ENDS