15 Feb 2023

Batswana have been urged to meet government halfway in utilising initiatives tailor-made to address poverty to ensure they bear fruit.

Member of Parliament for Shoshong, who is also the Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mr Aubrey Lesaso said this on Tuesday in his contribution to the debate on the proposed budget for the 2023/2024 financial year.

Mr Lesaso indicated that government had in place, good initiatives such as ISPAAD and LIMID, adding, however, that for the initiatives to succeed, beneficiaries also had to play their part rather than placing everything on the shoulders of the benefactor.

“There are instances where Batswana used ISPAAD to plough, but later abandoned their fields, while others used LIMID to take some small-stock which later failed to multiply because of lack of care.

These habits are of concern because they might render government assistance redundant,” he cautioned.

On the issue of value chain, Mr Lesaso said many Batswana were lacking in understanding the benefits of value chain from local products, something he said government needed to intensify education on.

“Most Batswana only know as far as selling their cattle or farm products.

They are not aware that they can make more money by selling cattle products such as offal,” he said.

Mr Lesaso cited gall stones, which he said could fetch as high as $13 000 per kilogramme in the eastern counties where it is used for medicinal purposes.

On issues of education, Mr Lesaso said it was vital that government ensured timely delivery of projects, because late delivery could impact on the economy.

He, however, expressed reservations that the budget failed to cater for backlogs at junior schools, most of which he said were constructed around 1985 and were now lacking on current necessities such as Internet.

“The current education stresses the use of technology, but most of our schools do not have provision that would enable such, so we need assets and infrastructure maintenance to bring them up to date,” he said.

He also cited lack of air conditioning, which he said was a necessity in schools, looking at the current high temperatures brought about by climate change.

Contributing to the debate, Member of Parliament for Ngami, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama said government should have increased the old age pension to at least P1 000.

“The ideal should be P1 500, but P1 000 would have been better.

A P1 000 increment would have cost government an additional P36 million on the budget, an increment of P1 200 would have meant P56 million on top while P1 500 would have meant P87 million.

I have no doubt this was not beyond the coffers of government it there was a will,” he said.

Mr Hikuama also urged government to guard against what he termed wasteful expenditure and corruption, which he said hampered all efforts aimed at good revenue collection.

The legislator also urged government to take high unemployment rate seriously, especially among the youth so that they could also enjoy the economic growth as was reported in the budget speech. ENDS