02 Dec 2021

Botswana has been criticised for failure to use the period under the State of Emergency (SOE) to improve its health sector.

Contributing to the debate on the State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) on Wednesday, Ghanzi South MP, Mr Motsamai Motsamai said some African countries that had placed their nations under SOE as part of the response to COVID-19 used the period to improve on their health services.

Mr Motsamai said some such countries had, on emergence from their SOE, built new hospitals and generally expanded their health facilities while others had even built oxygen plants.

Arguing that not much had been done in Botswana under the same period, he observed that should COVID-19 cases soar again, the country would still not be in a position to respond any better to the disease.

Still on COVID-19, the MP said with indications being that the pandemic would persist, it was vital to employ cleaners at primary schools permanently as the role they played was critical to controlling COVID-19 in schools.

On the COVID-19 test requirement for international travel, the MP said communities living along the border such as those in Karakubis, Charleshill and Makunda were crying foul because of the amount they had to pay for tests.

He said with residents of the villages travelling constantly between Botswana and Namibia to attend social events such as relatives’ funerals, it was imperative that government found a way to make things easier for them.

On other issues affecting Ghanzi South, the MP noted that health services in the constituency were still limited and not easily accessible.

To address the situation, Mr Motsamai called for the construction of a new hospital in Charleshill or Ghanzi to service residents in the area.

In addition, he urged government to upgrade Ghanzi Primary Hospital to a district hospital, a development he said would bring specialists to the hospital and ensure that it offered more services.

He said while awaiting the upgrading of the hospital, government should in the interim make an arrangement through which specialists in different health areas would make routine visits to the hospital to see patients.

The legislator further implored government to build a kidney dialysis centre in either Ghanzi or Kang to service the people of Ghanzi and Kgalagadi regions.

Regarding agriculture, Mr Motsamai cautioned government about its neglect of Artificial Insemination (AI) centres.

To buttress his argument, he said the AI centre in Chobokwane was no longer being used for its purpose as it had been turned into a storage facility for exhibits from criminal activities.

To put the centres to full use, the MP advised government to make provision for smallstock in the facilities, which he said would also contribute immensely to the growth of the sector.

On a related issue, he also complained about agricultural research centres, saying they too had been neglected.

Mr Motsamai, moreover, asked that conditions of service of employees of AI and research centres be revised, and that their welfare be taken to heart so that they could discharge their duties without hindrance.

Meanwhile, Shashe West MP, Mr Fidelis Molao informed Parliament that Botswana was doing reasonably well in the roll-out of early childhood education in primary schools across the country.

Mr Molao said at the moment, 629 primary schools out of the 758 in the country offered early childhood education, a figure that he explained translated to 82.9 per cent of roll-out.

On digitisation in schools, he observed that the use of technology for teaching and learning could not be over-emphasised; hence time had come for its incorporation into the education system.

Mr Molao, who is also the basic education minister, said in anticipation of embracing Internet connectivity through the Smart Botswana programme, the ministry was currently training teachers to prepare them for the use of technology in schools.

Concerning the constituency, Mr Molao thanked government for the connection of all 13 Shashe West villages to the national power grid.

He also expressed gratitude for the continued expansion of water reticulation in the constituency, stating that Chadibe and Borolong had been the latest to get water, and that it was expected that the seven remaining villages would be assisted before year end through the Ntimbale Dam water expansion project.

The MP noted that the recent update that the Mandunyane-Mathangwane road project tender was before the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) for award was encouraging as the issue had dragged for long.

On agriculture, Mr Molao hailed the expansion of President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’ smallstock initiative to include the donation of bulls.

He implored individual farmers to contribute to the success of the initiative by donating to it.

On a related issue, he emphasised the need to promote the spirit of collaboration among farmers, an ideal that he said could, among others, be achieved through cluster development.

Mr Molao said farmers should understand that by working together, they could maximise on their efforts to contribute towards realising self-sufficiency in food.

Still on agriculture, he said the provision for the slaughter of smallstock at the Francistown Botswana Meat Commission abattoir presented a unique opportunity for farmers in Shashe West and in the adjacent constituencies, and that it was important that they took the sub-sector seriously and positioned themselves such that they could tap into its full potential. BOPA