State House is becoming bottomless cash pit

Editor | Friday August 14, 2009 00:00

This week, Presidential Affairs Minister, Margaret Nasha requested P13 million for the renovation works in State House for the next seven years. This request is made even before President Ian Khama could move to State House since he took power 16 months ago. The tax-payer is bearing the cost of his alternative accommodation while State House is idle.

Before Khama could move to State House the nation was told that the residence was in disrepair and needed to be refurbished at an estimated cost of P10 million. This project was supposed to have been completed in May, but nothing like that has happened.

We all want our President to live in a very comfortable, secure and safe State House and that is why we want everything done to keep the residence in a proper state befitting the number one citizen. However, in this era of recession, we should make sure that every care is taken to ensure that money is not forever spent on one project. We cannot be perennially pumping money into expensive refurbishments. By all accounts, P23 million is a lot of money to be poured into the refurbishment of State House.

At this stage, it might be critical for the Department of Buildings and Electrical Services to maintain standard requirements of the State House other than to have any sitting president to come up with his designs and architectural desires. It would appear that any president who comes to the State House will want it to be refurbished according to his taste. Unfortunately, this costs the public millions and certainly this cannot be allowed to go on forever. It is simply too expensive for the nation. We are already spending too much money on the President alone. There is the presidential jet at P240 million and the caravan at around P2 million. This is just too much for one man.

Nokia intersection
We have learnt with sadness that the newly completed Nokia house road intersection will now be re-done. What is even worrying is that authorities cannot say who between the contractor and the public will finance the reconstruction. New as the road is, it is already showing signs of defects. The road becomes uneven after a slight drizzle.

We believe there is bad supervision by the responsible government agencies when such projects are undertaken. These departments need to do their jobs properly to save the government and the public the inconvenience and the cost of repeat jobs soon after main works have been done.

                                                 Today's Thought

Among other things, the building will have a commander's office, armoury, radio room, kitchen, dinning room and gym
                                 -Minister Margaret Nasha