13 Aug 2024

Water shortage, unemployment, a decline in the quality of education and health services and lack of infrastructure were the central topics during the parliamentary radio debate for Kanye West constituency on Saturday.

Appealing for votes, aspirants for the seat shared their respective political parties’ roadmaps regarding the future of the constituency, each assuring the electorate that they were better placed to address the existing challenges.

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) candidate, Reverend Pako Madigele said if elected, he would bring to an end the long-standing problem of water scarcity in Kanye and would also ensure that schools were resourced adequately to ensure an improved quality of education.

Rev. Madigele, who complained of bad roads in the constituency, said the construction of a road linking Selokolela to Lorolwane would be among his top priorities.

He said it was important to have the road constructed as, once done, a population of about 5 000 people would benefit from its use.

On agriculture, he chastised government for what he labelled lack of commitment towards developing the sector.

He said government had worsened the effects of drought on households by making Temo Letlotlo services accessible to farmers when the ploughing season was drawing to a close.

Rev. Madigele said the BCP would push for an economy that ran on a 24-hour basis, saying the fact that Botswana plunged into darkness at sunset slowed down economic growth.

He said his party would provide lighting that would ensure an uninterrupted flow of economic activity.

Dr Lemogang Kwape of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and also the incumbent representative of the constituency in parliament, denounced the argument that government was not committed to growing agriculture.

He said the pumping into Temo Letlotlo, of P96 million in its year of inception was evidence of an unwavering commitment to the growth and transformation of the sector.

He said this, together with other interventions aimed at supporting the sector, were intended to help lower the import bill by reducing the importation of food from other countries.

Regarding Kanye’s water woes, he admitted that the village had indeed been grappling with the problem for a long time.

However, Dr Kwape said a project was underway to address the problem and was expected to be completed by October.

He said in addition to enhancing equitable water distribution across the village, the project also entailed the replacement of old water infrastructure, a move that he said would minimise water loss due to leakages.

Dr Kwape said the impending construction of a 200-bed hospital and two primary schools in Kanye was proof of government’s commitment to offer citizens quality health services and education.

Mr Victor Phologolo of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), who also complained that the quality of education and health services had gone down, raised concern about the prevalence of incidences of people going missing, a problem that he said was worrying.

Mr Phologolo said if given the mandate to govern, the UDC would set up a national health insurance scheme to allow citizens better access to quality health services.

Further, he said they would create between 300 000 and 500 000 jobs to address the growing unemployment.

Mr Phologolo said they would set up a big pharmaceutical company that would produce vaccines and drugs for humans the same way the Botswana Vaccine Institute was producing animal vaccines.

He said the vaccines would earn revenue for Botswana from exportation.

On infrastructural development, he said if elected, his party would avail to the nation modern infrastructure that was suitable for the needs of all, including People Living with Disabilities. ENDS