10 Nov 2013

Politicians have been cautioned to refrain from using the Presidential Housing Appeal for the needy to gain political millage. 

Responding to the State-of-the-Nation Address in Parliament on November 8, Member of Parliament for Kweneng South East, Mr Mmoloki Raletobane complained that some politicians had taken advantage of the noble gesture from the business community and individuals alike to pledge and build houses for the needy for their political benefit. 

He said Batswana had fully embraced the initiative by pledging houses. He said however some politicians abused the initiative as they used it in their political campaigns by telling beneficiaries that they advocated for the houses.

He said politicians should clearly understand that the housing appeal initiative was meant to dignify the less privilege by putting a roof over their head but not to be used as a dirty measure to gain political popularity. The MP also questioned the criteria used to identify potential beneficiaries of such houses and complained that there was no transparency in identifying the beneficiaries.

Mr Raletobane stated that it was disturbing to note that some politicians were derailing the initiative for personal gain.  He said there should also be scrutiny of those identified to official hand over the houses during their completion so that it would not favour certain individuals at the expense of the others.

He further blamed the low voter registration turnout on the delimitation of the new political boundaries saying that the delimitation commission did not consult with the community during the demarcation of boundaries.  He said the IEC needed to embark on a voter education campaign to address Batswana on the importance of voting and practicing their political right.  

He said the realignment of boundaries should not be determined by the population status but, the commission should also consider the proximity of the polling stations to the voters. On other issues, Mr Raletobane highlighted the importance of establishing mini landfills in villages around the capital city. 

He said it was worrisome that the Gamodubu land fill is the only dumping site that services Gaborone and surrounding areas despite the quantity of waste material that get disposed daily. Therefore, Mr Raletobane called for an urgent response in identifying other landfills to relief the Gamodubu landfill in order to avoid illegal dumping of harmful waste in ungazetted places. Ends