13 Feb 2014

Member of Parliament for Boteti North, Mr Slumber Tsogwane has commended the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Mr Matambo for producing a balanced budget under difficult economic conditions.

Contributing to the budget debate in Parliament on February 12, Mr Tsogwane commended Mr Matambo for according the Finance and Estimates Committee the opportunity to scrutinise the budget prior to presentation in Parliament.

MP Tsogwane said in his budget speech, Mr Matambo said parastatals were doing well but he said this should be looked into because some parastatals declared huge profits but failed to provide adequate service to Batswana. He said Water Utilities Corporation in particular was only interested in making profits rather than service delivery.

The Boteti North legislator accused the corporation of failing to supply adequate water to Batswana since its takeover of water supply in the country yet district councils did well in this area. The corporation had not drilled, cleaned or equipped any borehole in his constituency since takeover, and water still remained a serious challenge throughout the country, he said.

Regarding infrastructural development, Mr Tsogwane said government should develop infrastructure in the agricultural sector since agriculture had proved to be a potential for economic diversification.

He said there was need to implement the agricultural policy of 1991 which called for provision of infrastructure in the agricultural sector to enable farmers to reduce the costs. Furthermore, he expressed his unhappiness with the way local transporters were treated especially in the mining industry, adding that only foreign transporters benefitted in this area.

Contributing to the debate, MP for Ngwaketse South, Mr Peter Siele also supported the budget saying that it was a clear indication that government had the interest of people at heart.

Mr Siele commended the finance minister for consulting with different stakeholders to get ideas prior to presenting his budget and also for coming up with two thematic areas in his budget which wouldl help grow the economy.

He said the budget also touched on agriculture particularly the reviewed Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development (ISPAAD) programme, which he said was going to benefit different categories of farmers.

For his part, MP for Kweneng South East Mr Mmoloki Raletobana applauded the government for building new dams in the northern part of this country.He said however the government should take an initiative to conduct a research to find out why Gaborone dam water level remains low despite the good rains.

Regarding plots allocation, he said there was vast of land in the country which is enough to address the high demand for land particularly in the areas of Mogoditshane and Tlokweng but the problem was that the land has not been serviced. He said the government should allocate more funds to the Ministry of Lands and Housing to carry out land servicing.

On agriculture, he said Batswana welcome the ISPAAD programme but the government should develop monitoring mechanisms to ensure that people use inputs such as fertilizers and seeds as required. He also called for the fencing of communal grazing land because most farmers have reared livestock in communal areas. ENDS