21 Feb 2024

The 2024/2025 budget proposal has been hailed as a true indication of the developmental strides that the country has achieved under the leadership of President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

This was said by Gaborone South Member of Parliament, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu when debating the budget proposal on Monday.

He said it was credible that the proposed budget was a stimulus budget with an overall increase of 23.5 per cent compared to the current year’s approved budget. He added that the budget increase would stimulate growth, create employment and focus on sectors with the great potential to transform the lives of Batswana.

Mr Mthimkhulu also said the historic Botswana-DeBeers Group new diamond sales deal spoke volumes of government’s commitment to increase Botswana’s presence and leadership position across the diamond value chain.

“It is through the visionary leadership of President Masisi that for the first time in the history Botswana we managed to secure a diamond sales deal that will see Okavango Diamond Company allocation of rough diamonds increase from 25 per cent to 50 per cent over the course of the 10 year agreement,” he said.

He also said the country had made a number of policy pronouncements which were part of the development roadmap which sought to propel Botswana to greater heights. He said chief amongst them was the national transformation strategy which was a blueprint for the government’s development agenda.

Additionally, he said Botswana had also embarked on a vision of transforming from an upper middle-income country to a high-income country by 2036. He said the vision was a clear ambition to charter a course driven by transformation and characterised by a knowledge-based and inclusive economy.

Contributing to the debate, Okavango MP, Mr Kenny Kapinga dismissed the 2024/2025 budget proposal, saying it was off tune with the realisation of the country’s Vision 2036 aspirations and did not point to a relatively expansionary fiscal stance. “There is absolutely nothing stimulus about this budget as it lacks transformational strategies and how it is going to directly stimulate the economy, and it is also short of relatable timelines,” he said.

He opposed the proposed establishment of the multibillion pula diamond for development fund, saying it would only be appropriate for all proceeds to be channelled to the government consolidated fund.

Mr Kapinga said there was nothing that differentiated the current budget proposal with previous budgets.

He stated that little had been achieved in relation to water reticulation and connectivity in the past years, highlighting that many villages in his constituency were in dire need of water. “It is disappointing that the Ministry of

Lands and Water Affairs continues to be allocated a larger share of the developmental budget and yet many of my constituents in Skombondoro, Mogotlo and Okavango East continue to go days without water,” he said.

He also decried the frequent break down of the Sepopa water plant which supplies Etsha villages. He said it needed to be urgently attended to, adding that the rollout of rural electrification was also slow in Okavango District. ENDS