Speaking at a press briefing breakfast held at the Gaborone International Conference Centre (GICC) yesterday, Director of Population and Development Coordination Section, Rebasele Radibe observed that “more emphasis is put on the girl-child, running a risk of leaving out the boy-child. This is a concern to my ministry because the boy child is equally vulnerable to life pressures as reflected in criminal trends in the country.”
Should no efforts be made to take care of the boy-child, Radibe anticipated catastrophic consequences. Leaving men behind in development and other important issues such as sexual and reproductive health could also be detrimental to the development process, according to Radibe.
“Often we assume that men are in command and because of this attitude we are likely to leave them behind especially where they are not in leadership. We should keep checking where they are, lest we close them out of the system,” he said.
Other sections of the population the ministry is concerned about are the elderly and people with disabilities.
“Elderly people worked hard for the benefit of the current generations, but now they are viewed merely as custodians of culture. Beyond that they are equated with disabled bodies. They are made to follow long queues for services and pay full transport fares like all of us,” he said, adding that these should change for the betterment of their lives.
People with disabilities - the heterogeneous group, with Rights similar to yours, but with special needs are also neglected, according to Radibe.
“Except for rehabilitation programmes carried out by the Ministry of Health and the provision of Special Education by the Ministry of Education, there is very little done for their welfare,” he said.
