27 Feb 2014

Members of Parliament have approved the Ministry of State President’s 2014/15 budget of over P99 million (P99 154 870) under the recurrent budget and over P1 billion (P1 173 541 176) for development budget.

Debating the State President proposal presented by the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi, MPs approved the budget but raised concerns over public employees’ salary adjustment and the Poverty Eradication Programme.

MP for Tati East, Mr Samson Guma said something needed to be done to increase public employees’ salaries as well as improving the salaries structure across different sectors. Mr Guma said government was the key factor in driving the economy and as such should take the lead in uplifting the wage structure in this country.

The proposed four per cent salary adjustment by government, he said, was not enough and would not  help ease economic hardships faced by public employees such as high rentals, transport fares and food prices. MP for Francistown South, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi called for public employees’ salary increase saying it would help motivate them.

Regarding Poverty Eradication Programme, he said, the programme excluded members of the community who were not under the care of district councils even though they qualified to be assisted under the programme. The programme should be extended to include such people, he added.

The Francistown South legislator also raised a concern over the Directorate of Intelligence Service saying that it was  allocated a large share of the budget yet other security organisations like Botswana Defence Force and Botswana Police Service were not given that privilege.

MP for Palapye, Mr Moiseraele Goya commended the social safety nets for people living with disability, the public service reforms and outsourcing of some services, saying that outsourcing would help reduce the recurrent budget.

He further said the Public Service Act should be reviewed as soon as possible and should exclude the teaching service so that teachers are guided by a different act tailor made for their profession.

Some problems faced by Ministry of Education and Skills Development emanated from the Public Service Act, particularly the issue of working hours and payment of overtime for teachers, he said. Mr Goya commended the proposed staff recruitment for health workers saying that it would improve delivery in health institutions.

For his part, MP for Tati West Mr Charles Tibone said salary negotiations should start earlier so that the results would be known prior to the presentation of the budget speech. He said salary increase was a factor in motivating public officers and enhancing work ethic.

Mr Tibone raised a concern over work ethic in Botswana saying that reports have shown that Batswana have poor work ethic, adding that he would have liked to see a special allocation to deal with this issue.

However, he commended National AIDS Coordinating Agency for its effort in reducing the HIV prevalence, adding that his constituency remains one of the areas with high HIV prevalence; as such specific measures should be undertaken to lessen the prevalence rate.

MP for Letlhakeng East, Mr Liakat Kablay said the undertaking of poverty eradication projects was slow in his constituency and called for the fast tracking of the programme because there are no job opportunities in his area.

MP for Kgalagadi North, Mr Phillip Khwae said there was shortage of assessors under the poverty eradication programme which has resulted in beneficiaries taking longer to be assisted.

He decried shortage of staff at Kgalagadi District Council attributing this to reluctance in filling up the vacant posts. MP for Letlhakeng West, Mr Ngaka Ngaka said poverty eradication programme should have its own coordinators because social workers are entrusted with so many responsibilities.

He said the government should look into the issue of high water bills for back yard gardening, adding that the government should consider paying water bills for beneficiaries for a certain period.

In addition, he said he was happy that the government was going to come up with a revised disability policy which would look at factors such as the environment in which people living with disability live in and the nature of disability.

MP for Kgatleng East, Mr Isaac Mabiletsa complained of inadequate news coverage by government media in his constituency.

Regarding the Poverty Eradication Programme, he said, the government was committing three quarter of the budget in poverty eradication yet beneficiaries do not graduate from poverty and called for the programme’s improvement. ENDS