08 Feb 2021

This year’s national budget misplaced priorities since it did not place a core focus on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic to reflect the current situation facing the country.

This view was expressed at the National Assembly on Thursday by Sefhare-Ramokgonami MP, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang, during his contribution to the budget speech debate.

Dr Gobotswang said ministries such as the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security continued to be allocated a larger portion of the budget when the combat the country needed to be engaged in required greater focus on healthcare.

He said the country should have long procured COVID-19 vaccines and clearly communicated how they would be rolled out.

Acknowledging that the speech showed that there was leakage in government spending, Dr Gobotswang said this could be overcome through strengthening and granting autonomy to oversight bodies such as the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the office of the Ombudsman.

Dr Gobotswang further said the country’s leadership should take the lead in cost recovery measures by spending less on travel and other activities that invite costs.

He complained that the poor were going to be burdened by an increase in tax and other levies. Instead, Dr Gobotswang proposed that the government should rather focus on taxing the rich, including increased taxation on the purchase of luxury goods.

Additionally, Dr Gobotswang said the government had to give an account of how funds were spent previously on measures such as the plastic levy.

Furthermore, Dr Gobotswang expressed concern about the storm water drainage system constructed in the Sefhare, Borotsi and Chadibe villages, which he said were poorly designed.

He also called for decentralisation, through the delegation of powers to town and district councils to devise and oversee their own development projects under the leadership of executive mayors and district chairpersons empowered to account. ENDS