13 Nov 2013

Gaborone West South MP, Mr Botsalo Ntuane, has proposed that in its February budget meeting, Parliament should come up with a youth wage subsidy programme as an incentive for private sector companies to employ more young people by giving them tax breaks.

Responding to President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama’s address in Parliament, Mr Ntuane said this was his idea of how government could try to resolve unemployment which had afflicted young people.

The issue of unemployment, he said, was currently a matter of concern to everyone more especially the youth. “We are all affected by this problem. We are all grappling with how to resolve it. And all I am pleading for is let’s try and come up concrete solutions of how to address this national problem, because it affects all of us,” he added.

Therefore, he urged other MPs to also try to come up with more creative ideas on how unemployment could be addressed, adding that “if we put heads together as a nation we could deal with this matter.”  

The Gaborone West South MP said President Khama’s speech was one of the most comprehensive and detailed addresses to the nation. The speech, he said was also a piece of good news that MPs needed to acknowledge, as there was many instances of good news contained in it.

Mr Ntuane also added that the speech swept across the entire national landscape in so far as diagnosing the problems of the country was concerned, in coming up with solutions and in addressing the aspirations and the interests of Batswana.

“This speech diagnoses the problems of this country and comes out with solutions. Whether the solution are sufficient enough that is debatable, but solutions are provided. I think in a lot of ways we witnessed a very honest account of where Botswana stands today and what Botswana has been in the past 12 months,” he said.

President Khama’s speech, he said reaffirmed government’s commitment to the betterment of the lives of Batswana and to the delivery of social justice to the citizens of Botswana, adding that there has also been ample demonstration of a compassionate state at work, which was all contained in the speech.

Mr Ntuane said government also recommitted itself to the creation of an equal opportunity society and also to ensuring that Batswana enjoy the best in terms of human development. “We have much to look forward to as a country and this is spelled out accurately and comprehensively in President’s speech,” he added.Ends