20 Aug 2020

Botswana needs to invest in being self-sufficient in key sectors of the economy, says Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi.

  Speaking on behalf of one of the minority parties in Parliament, the Alliance for Progressives (AP), during the debate on the Mid-Term Review of the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11) on August 19, Mr Mmolotsi said the country should emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with important lessons.

He said the situation where there had been a scarcity of goods and services, including fuel should be a lesson that the country should invest in being as self-sufficient as possible in basic goods.

Mr Mmolotsi said the closure of borders forced even elites in the country to access healthcare locally instead of going for expensive care abroad, which should compel the country to work on ensuring that quality healthcare was afforded within its borders.

He said there were countries like France which had ensured that their national health service provided the same quality care to all people irrespective of their social standing, and urged government to work on Botswana’s health services to make it of good quality and accessible to all.

Mr Mmolotsi said Botswana should prioritise agricultural production, saying the AP had called for an investment in borehole drilling and the rehabilitation of wells to provide water sources that would assist committed farmers to improve their food production.

While the country imported grain from as far afield as Brazil, Mr Mmolotsi said if the country  worked on improving its agricultural output, the country could end up becoming a net exporter of the same agricultural produce. 

He said the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board should be strategically positioned to export produce outside the country.

Mr Mmolotsi also said government should develop better roads and access to electricity in the farming lands to enable farming to be combined with processing in the countryside.

The Francistown South legislator called for innovative ideas to boost the economy, saying Botswana should build oil refineries and import crude oil from countries such as Nigeria for processing, instead of relying on South Africa for refined petroleum.

He said Botswana could satisfy its domestic demand and export petroleum products to other African states if such measures were pursued. 

Mr Mmolotsi further called for an investment in pipelines to transport fuel, which he said would involve a huge initial capital outlay, but would prove to have long term dividends for the economy.

Meanwhile, Tonota MP, Mr Pono Moatlhodi, called for the country to focus on the key sectors of agriculture, healthcare and education, which he said were critical to human development.

Mr Moatlhodi said he was against the proposed future phasing out of primary school leaving examinations (PSLE exams) as he believed examinations were an important tool to gauge the progress of learners and would augment continuous assessment.

Ngami MP, Mr Carter Hikuama said the opposition had over the years called for education with production in order to ensure that every learner was trained based on the skills they displayed be they cerebral or vocational and resources were availed to prepare such learners for the job market.

Mr Hikuama said government’s move towards multiple pathways approach to education was in line with what the opposition had always advocated for, and called for careful implementation to ensure that Batswana learners exited the school system better equipped.

He said without a quality education, Botswana would not be in a position to engage in the economic transformation envisioned by the NDP 11 review, as a modernising economy needed skilled manpower. Ends