03 Dec 2013

The chairperson of Central District Council (CDC), Mr Lesego Raditanka has said decentraliastion of services should be expedited to improve service delivery.

Officially opening CDC meeting on November 2, Mr Raditanka said government took a decision to decentralise some services to lower authorities such as the council because it had proven to be a good idea so as to ensure that Batswana get services closer to where they live.

Even though, the initiative had been rolled out, he said there were some instances where Batswana travelled long distances to access some of the services. Also, he pointed out that the global recession had affected CDC’s developmental plans since there had been no budget for developments which had impacted negatively on their planned projects they had.

He cited that some primary schools such as Riverside primary school in Serowe need to be maintained but that had not been possible due to budgetary constraints.

Nonetheless, he acknowledged that they had managed to carry out some of the projects like Bobonong internal roads, adding that roads were vital when taking services to the people.

In addition, he explained that there were some delays in time taken to complete projects due to issues of Environmental Impact Assessment survey. He further applauded government through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for the introduction of Miss Affirmative Action saying such pageants had unearthed natural beauty and talent.

He hoped that the beauty queens would go back to their localities to motivate their fellow countrymen to take advantage of numerous government programs aimed at improving their livelihoods.

In an interview following the chairman’s remarks, Mr Thomas Kgethenyane, United for Democratic Change (UDC) representative and councillor for Moreomaoto Khumaga ward, shared the same sentiments with council chairperson that decentralisation of some services should be expedited as people still travel long distances to access services.

If taken seriously, Mr Kgethenyane said CDC would be far in terms of service delivery. He said lack of proper supervision was one of the reasons which hamper decentralisation.

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) representative and councilor for Senete ward, Mr Tabona Saulo said CDC had not done much in terms of development due to the economic recession since most of the projects were deferred. Mr Saulo said most of the roads were in a bad state. Ends