03 Sep 2023

There is still no alternative to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) as the party’s collective accomplishments have borne remarkable fruits over the years.

Officially opening BDP’s Extraordinary National Congress in Palapye on Saturday, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said despite COVID-19 challenges the BDP-led government stood its ground to scale up efforts to come up with measures to minimise impact.

The President said the BDP responded to one of the worst challenges by saving lives, livelihoods as well as saving the economy from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He expressed optimism for a positive future driven by a restoration of the spirit of self-reliance, self-value and strong work ethic in pursuit of excellence, adding that these were some of the values upon which the nation was anchored bequeathed upon Batswana by fore bearers.

He thus urged the congress to rely on these values as it was the nation’s inheritance that would transition the country from upper-middle income status to a high income one.

He thanked democrats for electing the central committee in a way that were exemplary not only to the party competitors locally, but also setting a democratic standard worthy of emulation.

He underscored the fact that the country had just emerged from the deadly Coronavirus, a pandemic that attacked Botswana and the world, decimating lives and shattering livelihoods and economies as it unfolded.

Dr Masisi said it was also true that developing countries such as Botswana were worst hit by shortages of medicine, first those required to address the emergency that was COVID-19 and later its management.

He said introspecting with regard to COVID-19 enigma, Batswana could not help but be thankful that they were still alive, largely because of the efforts of self-preservation that was seized upon them.

He said it had been a horrifying experience seeing that where COVID-19 first hit as unknown disease, people died like flies in spite of their clearly better healthcare systems compared to those of developing countries.

The President said government hurriedly looked at health infrastructure, the resources at disposal, human capital and developed a response strategy, albeit on sketchy and ever changing information and knowledge about the disease.

“The core of our strategy was simple; saving lives, livelihoods and the economy in that order of importance,” he said, adding that government managed through changing advisory from the World Health Organisation.

He said in spite of the setback occasioned by the pandemic, the BDP remained committed to the party’s promise to Batswana; the promise of creating sustainable jobs and an inclusive economy in which all shall have a meaningful role to play.

He pointed out that this shall be achieved through relentless pursuit of the reprioritisation of the party’s mandate in the form of the Reset and Reclaim Agenda and the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan, together with the National Transformation Strategy that would be processed by the Cabinet in the near future, all these being efforts to deal not only with the aftermath of COVID-19, but to make the economy more resilient and self-reliant. ends