13 Feb 2025

Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) has the desire to uplift the livelihoods of Batswana by creating jobs, improving health and education facilities among others.

Contributing to the budget speech recently, Francistown South Member of Parliament, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi said government had the intention to address challenges at hand and create a new Botswana where all would benefit.

He said UDC assumed government under challenging conditions when government coffers were low and was challenged to deliver its promise to the nation timely.

“We cannot achieve what we promised in just two months. We are a new government, and bound to encounter challenges,” he said.

Mr Mmolotsi who is also the and Minister of Environment and Tourism appealed to the opposition legislators to be patient and afford them time to adjust and learn how a government operated, adding that  eventually they would overcome stumbling blocks.

The  Francistown South MP said the Ministry of Health owed private health practitioners over P1.5 billion.

“We are doing all to resuscitate the economy and normalise livelihoods. We came in at a time when diamonds sales were at their lowest,” he said.

Mr Mmolotsi said government would continue to apologise for falling short of the promised P1 800 old age pension.

However, Mr Mmolotsi said he was happy to receive reports that the elderly people in his constituency acknowledged that despite challenges at hand the government managed to offer them P1 400.

He said government was still alive the promise made to tertiary students of a monthly allowance of P2 500. Funds permitting, he said the promise would be delivered in future.

He said they were undertaking a comprehensive assessment that would guide the Old Age Pension age to start at  60 years. The assessment will also help determine and identify those double dipping, he said.

Mr Mmolotsi said all the fundamentals of the economy were in place, therefore what was left was to establish means of generating revenue and growing the economy. ENDS