I will not apologise
Ian Khama | Monday April 7, 2014 11:23
I feel greatly honoured to have once again been elected to lead this great party of ours at this time in our history.
I want to assure you that your confidence in me will not be misplaced as I recommit myself to the values that this party stands for driven by our mission and determination to do our best for this nation and its people.
By this I mean that everything we do will be anchored on the need to always put people first.
. I have every intention for as long as I am in office both as Party Leader and National Leader to continue to drive my principles of the 5Ds to achieve this.
As to my leadership, there are those lost souls in the opposition who in their desperate attempts to discredit me, have out of frustration called me a dictator. Apparently this arises from the fact that I do not shy away from making decisions.
I do indeed make decisions on many occasions, on many situations and it is something for which I make no apology.
I will not apologise for example, for introducing a programme that gives temporary relief for people to engage in work programmes for the benefit of their communities, whilst earning an allowance to feed themselves and their families and in so doing also support local economies, that is the Ipelegeng programme that targets 60,000 people a month.
I do not apologise for the ISPAAD programme that saw in the first year our cereal production triple and like this year has seen significant agricultural activity across the whole country so far by 70,000 farmers.
I will not apologise for the Youth Empowerment Scheme that sees the youth as a key priority for us to develop where we have put in place and continue to put in place programmes for their advancement into opportunities. So far about 315,000 youths have benefitted from this scheme.
I will not apologise for taking the decision for the following either: The poverty eradication programme, or for providing houses for destitutes, or Affirmative Action for Remote Dwellers and Disabled people, or giving blankets to the elderly and destitute, or putting 30,000 learners back to school for a second chance at an education, the internship programme, LIMID, standard electricity and water costs, promotion of Arts and Culture, intervention to fight crime, legal aid, the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) that creates employment, grows businesses, diversifies the economy and empowers citizens. The list goes on.
These decisions I have been making with advice and discussions with Cabinet are based on my and the Vice President and Ministers interactions with Batswana through Kgotla meetings and walk abouts where they tell me and them how they want their lives improved. Such decisions are based on such consultation and nothing else.
For as long as I am in office I will continue to do it this way, because that is the meaning of Democracy. We will be a government elected by the people, to work for the people, because we too are a government of the people.
And therefore I promise to once again deliver and develop this country so that we can all of us, leaving no one behind, live in dignity and strive to embrace all the principles of Botho through discipline.