BFTU condemns Khama�s silence

Staff Writer | Thursday March 20, 2014 12:06

 

“The handling of the current electricity crisis by the government is unacceptable particularly by the Head of State. It is our considered view that the nature of the crisis warrants that His Excellency the President of Botswana, should be taking a leading role in resolving the crisis compared to the nonchalant attitude that prevails. Electricity (access to energy) is a basic need without which the whole nation is faced with an uncertain future,” BFTU officials said in a statement to the press at the Oasis Motel in Tlokweng yesterday. The federation expressed disappointment that despite the crisis that has become ‘a state of emergency’ no proactive action has been taken particularly by Khama to brief the nation.

BFTU lamented that the president is silent when the nation is in a state of panic. The unionists said businesses are threatened with closure, people are sleeping hungry, traffic lights are not working, putting road users at risk and causing jams.

The BFTU leadership argued that provision of electricity has been classified as an essential service by the government, therefore the state should provide it.

“The policy adopted by the government to buy electricity from outside the country instead of producing its own, despite large deposits of coal fields and sound economic position, is directly responsible for the current electricity crisis gripping our nation”. BFTU stated that during their interaction with the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Kitso Mokaila, he admitted that one of the major causes of the current problem with Morupule ‘B’ power station was poor project management.

“We are informed that the original engineers who were responsible for the construction of the Morupule B project resigned in large numbers apparently because they did not agree with the shoddy approach to the project by the then project manager contracted by BPC.

We believe these were the first signs that things were amiss and remedy could have been sought quite earlier and the current crisis could have been averted. BPC management, the BPC board and government should be held accountable for failure to take remedial actions,” BFTU officials said.

The BFTU leadership questioned the government’s decision to give priority to mines in power supply. “BFTU appreciates that minerals are the largest provider of revenue to our economy and facilitation of growth.

But we believe that this prioritisation is flawed as not every citizen of this country is dependent on mines,” BFTU said. It said out of over 400,000 workers in the country, the mines employ less than five percent.

Besides, many citizens are yet to enjoy the fruits of the country’s mines save for the little that is channeled through social services.

“It is a well-known fact that the wealth of our mines is not equitably distributed and protecting mines at the expense of other economic and social activities is protecting the interest of the elite,” the federation said.