19 Aug 2020

Cabinet ministers on August 18 evening stood up in Parliament to voice their support during the resumed debate on the approval of the Mid-Term Review of the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11). 

The NDP 11 Mid-Term Review, whose approval had been tabled before by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Thapelo Matsheka, drew support from members of the executive, including the Minister of Trade, Investment and Industry, Ms Peggy Serame.

Expressing gratitude for the decision to implement an Economic Stabilisation Plan during the months of April to June 2020 after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms Serame said the government had managed to avert a potential economic disaster, and by reviewing NDP 11, would ensure further recovery.

Ms Serame said the COVID-19 had adversely affected the country’s revenue streams, with the country’s economic mainstay, the diamond industry, other exports as well as the tourism sector experiencing a downturn.

She added that the NDP 11 Mid-Term Review presented an opportunity for those sectors to be revived, adding that innovation was necessary in improving the country’s economic fortunes. 

Ms Serame said that some of the areas NDP 11 would focus on, such as developing human capital and ensuring more efficient government spending should be carefully executed to ensure a more resilient economy.

The government should also work vigorously on exploring different means of funding projects, including public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the use of pension funds, Ms Serame said. The information communication technology (ICT) sector also needs to be improved for the digitization of the economy, she added.

Adding to the debate, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Eric Molale said since independence the government had implemented the national development plans as a means of structured planning. 

He said it was a bottom-up democratic process that involved communities through Village Development Committees (VDCs) and the local level leadership who draw up District Development Plans (DDPs), which are the nucleus of the NDP.

He said the current mid-term review had to take into account the election manifesto of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) since they had been elected into government in 2019 with promises to the electorate, the aspirations of Vision 2036 and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Molale said he supported the mid-term review as it focused on five critical areas; export led growth, efficient government spending, developing human capital, infrastructure investment and building a resilient economy.

The Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Kagiso Mmusi thanked Dr Matsheka and his ministry for ensuring that important projects such as the Masama Wellfields and the North-South Water Carrier were not halted when economic pressure was brought to bear on the economy due to COVID-19.

Mr Mmusi further said that the local beneficiation of raw materials extracted in the country should be emphasised to ensure value addition and the creation of jobs.

He also said that the state should avail land for youth entrepreneurs in order for them to fully take advantage of the opportunities availed by the Citizen Entrepreneural Development Agency (CEDA). Ends