24 Sep 2013

Independence day should be celebrated with pride and dignity to accentuate the significance it bears, says the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Addressing a kgotla meeting at Moshupa recently, Mr Masisi said as the nation was gearing towards the 50th anniversary of independence in 2016, the celebrations, behaviour, mood and all activities related to the celebrations should be improved to demonstrate pride. Mr Masisi said plans are underway to set up the 50th anniversary coordinating unit in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to coordinate all activities.

On issues of poverty eradication, Mr Masisi said every constituency has been given the liberty to allocate 200 projects, adding that it all depended on the productivity of officers in a particular constituency to ensure that awarding of projects was accelerated. In regard to backyard gardening, Mr Masisi said the water tanks provided were to ensure that during water rationing, gardeners have a continuous supply of water.

He said while water continues to torment Botswana, the government has issued a waiver that water restrictions would not be imposed on all backyard gardeners.

“In the event that the water situation worsens, the government will be left with no choice but to impose water restrictions and let the gardens die instead of letting the people die of thirst,” he said adding that he does not approve the fact that some gardens were not planted. On other issues, Mr Masisi said the government has allocated P50 million as a first step for back log eradication, adding that in the next financial year the back log eradication funds would be raised to P500 million. He encouraged Batswana contractors to prepare to tender for the back lock eradication programme. Mr Masisi said P20 million has been set aside for government employees and the public to construct houses for rental by public officers.
ENDS