16 Feb 2020

Government has been urged to create attractive rural economies for young people in rural areas, particularly through infrastructure development.

Responding to the budget speech on February 13, Member of Parliament for Tati East, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe argued that the prevailing infrastructure development strategy was failing to facilitate rural economic expansion.

He said rural economies lagged behind while urban economies continued to thrive, saying it left village economies unattractive to young people, with no job creation and the lifestyle they needed.

Dr Letsholathebe also argued that although government was working on a broader national agenda, it ran the risk of promoting polices that overlooked realities and the needs of rural economies. He said there was need to unpack and adapt policies to the complexities of rural economics. He also argued that rural economies should be part of the transformation to a high income economy.

“For rural economies to be part of inclusive development, entities like Water Utilities Corporation (WUC), Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) should contextualise their tariffs and services to the varying degrees of village economic activities and inequalities, rather than charging the same tariffs across the country,” he said.

He said the only way to attract the youth back into villages was by providing services found in urban places as well as reducing tariffs for services in rural areas.

He added that the less economically endowed must be extended a lending hand in order to include them in the inclusive economy.

He argued that the budget should lay a foundation for an inclusive economy with equitable income distribution and a defeated poverty.

On the other hand, MP for Selebi Phikwe East, Mr Kgoberego Nkawana called for the re-opening of the BCL mine, saying it would create jobs for the township populace.

On education, Mr Nkawana applauded teachers and pupils in Selebi Phikwe for good results in the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), Junior Certificate Examinations (JCE) as well as BGCSE.

However, he argued that in order to drive a transformation economy, the budget should address improvements and development of infrastructure in schools and also seek to re-tool teachers.

In other issues, the MP advocated for a hospital in the township, saying the existing one was overwhelmed because it serviced Bobirwa and Tswapong villages, and that it resulted in Selebi Phikwe residents going for health services in Francistown.

Nevertheless, Mr Nkawana applauded government for the hunting season, saying it was through hunting that the economy would grow and further address issues of poaching.

He noted that hunting benefitted communities within areas that experienced human wildlife conflict, and also called for the resuscitation of community trusts.

The MP for Mmathethe/Molapowabojang, Dr Edwin Dikoloti supported the budget proposal, saying it addressed key areas geared at improving agricultural development for an export led economy.

Dr Dikoloti also implored other legislators to utilise their constituency funds to augment the budget and also encouraged them to come up with initiatives to develop their constituencies through investment in education and research.

The MP for Kgalagadi North, Ms Talitha Monnakgotla also commended the finance minister for the budget proposal, particularly that it addressed ICT issues. She said the fibre optic network was already connected and would enable efficient and effective service delivery in her constituency.

However, Ms Monnakgotla said she would be happier to see the budget catering for establishment of industries that created jobs for young people in order to address the high unemployment rate in her constituency.

She also called for the privatisation of the Zutshwa salt project, saying it would create the much needed jobs as well as drive one of the national policy priorities of export led economy by exporting salt to other countries. ends