08 Feb 2021

 It is incumbent on public representatives across the political divide to unite in mobilising the nation and raising awareness in the country’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Sethabelo Modukanele, stated this while debating a budget speech at the National Assembly on Thursday.

Mr Modukanele said from the moment COVID-19 was first identified as a national concern in early 2020, the country’s leadership worked on various preventative measures including instituting a state of public emergency, lockdowns, curfews, and other interventions in the public interest.

But, Mr Modukanele said the political opposition was critical of such measures, something he termed ‘irresponsible, reckless and unworthy of leadership.’

Rather, Mr Modukanele said leaders needed to be at the forefront of mobilising protective interventions for the public they represented.

On development planning, Mr Modukanele noted that the country had done well to build a modern road network across the country since independence, but said there was need to develop roads that connected agricultural production areas in the rural countryside to their markets.

In addition, he proposed a national integrated health plan that could close any existing gaps in the current system and a robust engagement by governments with the public to ensure that healthcare interventions were community-based.

Moreover, Mr Modukanele said as promised in Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) 2019 election manifesto, government needed to develop a national insurance plan in order to assist poorer members of the community access expensive specialist healthcare.

He also called for improved health facilities in the Lerala-Maunatlala constituency.
Mr Modukanele further reminded Parliament that his ministry had been working in on reengineering the Ipelegeng programme, with Minister Eric Molale having briefed the legislative assembly to that end last year. ENDS