10 Feb 2020

Member of Parliament for Ngami, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama has rejected the 2020/2021 budget proposals, saying there is nothing on offer for his constituents.

Debating the budget brought before Parliament on Monday, Mr Hikuama said the Ngami area did not have good roads, making it difficult for residents to access government services.

He also said a number of villages in the constituency had no electricity.

On unemployment, he said while the national rate hovered at 20 per cent, it was double the number in his constituency and added that one way of overcoming that was through infrastructure development.

The MP further said he did not know if his area would benefit from the knowledge-based economy when schools performed below par and always coming last.

He said while government had received accolades for allocating a huge budget to the Ministry of Basic Education, the nation should not be deceived as the recurrent budget mostly included salaries for teachers.

MP Hikuama called upon government to increase the development budget of the education ministry.

He said he fully supported Poverty Eradication programmes, but called for restructuring of Ipelegeng, saying it should embark on sustainable projects that would economically empower the employees.

He said while the ruling party was happy with the rate of economic growth, he wondered how the numbers presented on paper could improve the lives of ordinary Batswana, hence they at UDC talked about economic development.

For his part, MP for Okavango, Mr Kenny Kapinga said government had not fully embarked on the transformation agenda, as it was business as usual.

He also decried the poor state of schools in his constituency, saying this was the reason they registered 14 per cent pass rate in last year’s Junior Certificate examinations and he added that they needed a deliberate development programme to maintain schools in his area.

MP Kapinga further said the slow disposal of cases and bail outs given to dangerous criminals and repeat offenders were a real threat facing the country. 

The Okavango legislator said the rise in mob justice showed that confidence in the justice system was waning.

He said the budget speech did not outline how the government intended to uproot corruption, adding that the right personnel with necessary qualifications should lead the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC).

MP Kapinga commended the finance minister for not increasing taxes and implored him to instead pursue people and businesses that fail to pay tax.

He implored the minister to take bold decisions and surround himself with the right people if he wanted to transform the country. ENDS