18 Jul 2019

The Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security will continue to employ people living with disabilities in its endeavour to contribute towards meeting the country’s target of UN Sustainable Development Goal 8 of decent work and economic growth by 2030.

Mr Molao said his ministry has employed 26 people living with various disabilities, two being people living with albinism and 24 living with other disabilities.

He pointed out that out of the 24 people living with other disabilities, 15 were within the ministry while 11 were employed by the ministry parastatals.

Mr Molao stated that Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) has one employee, Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) has six employees and Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI) has no employee with disabilities.

Furthermore, he said Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) has three employees while the National Food Technology Research Centre (NFTRC) has one employee with disability.

Moreover, Mr Molao said 15 employees with disabilities in the ministry were across districts, adding that one male was at Central District, one male at North East District, one male at Chobe District and three males at North West District.

He said the ministry headquarters had four females and three males, adding that their dates of employment ranged from 1984 to 2019

Mr Molao explained that he was unable to indicate whether the number of people living with disability employed by his ministry met the country’s target of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No.8.

He said his ministry contributed to the national target and as such, the Ministry for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration (MOPAGPA) would be better placed to indicate whether or not the employed number of people living with disabilities met the country’s target of the UNSDG No 8.

Special Elected MP, Mr Mephato Realtile had wanted to know the number of people living with albinism and other disabilities employed under the Ministry of Agriculture Development and Food Security.

Mr Reatile further wanted the minister to provide a breakdown by district, date of employment and gender. ENDS