21 Nov 2013

Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone, has said Botswana Congress Party (BCP) expected that President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama would be introspective and evaluative in his approach when delivering the state-of-the-nation address.

Responding to the President’s address in Parliament, on Wednesday November 20, Mr Arone said they had hoped that, in his speech, President Khama, “would take us from the time he took over as head of state to the time he is now- the promises he made and what has been achieved.”

As BCP, the Okavango MP said, their worry was that “a number of promises that we find in the state-of-the-nation address that came before this one, have not been achieved.”

Mr Arone said their role was to make sure that the party in power accounted for the actions and decisions that it took. “So, I have heard people expecting us to be singing praises of them. No, that is not our job,” he added.

Mr Arone also said there were a number of areas in the development of the country that they were not happy about, such as the education system.

For the past five years, Mr Arone said the results of students in the public schools in the country had been a big concern. Therefore, he urged the government, through the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, to ensure that the situation was addressed.

For example, he said children whose parents could afford to take them to private schools were doing very well and progressed to tertiary, whilst most of those in public schools did not go through. “Even if we come up with Back to School programmes, did we take time to introspect and find out why these students failed in the first place?” he questioned.

Furthermore, Mr Arone said Batswana were suffering, countrywide, to get the health services they required, simply because the country’s health system continued to be a challenge.

He said the health service was an essential service, and therefore the issue of shortage of drugs and vehicles in the health facilities countrywide, could not be described as a normal situation.“Therefore, we are calling upon the ruling party to ensure that Batswana do not suffer to get the health service,” he said.

Furthermore, Okavango MP also said people in the Ngamiland constituency were not happy with what was happening in their area in terms of the fight against Foot and Disease (FMD) and had come to a conclusion that “government does not want to assist people in the Ngamiland area”.

He therefore called upon the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that the cattle industry in the Ngamiland constituency was revived as it used to be “we want to sell our cattle to the European Union market to be able to get out of poverty.”

He added that people in the Ngamiland constituency were also not happy with the efforts that the Ministry of Agriculture was putting towards the fight against FMD. Ends