Billy fancies his prospects for Parly
Chakalisa Dube | Friday May 30, 2014 15:52
Kanye North Member of Parliament (MP), Kentse Rammidi comes to mind as does the maverick politician Tonota South’s Pono Moatlhodi who stepped up from the council chambers to the national assembly.
It is not surprising therefore that Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) councillor Buti Billy of Satellite South ward, after two terms at the Francistown City Council chambers, fancies himself the next MP for Francistown East.
Billy defeated the Foreign Affairs Minister Phandu Skelemani at the BDP primary elections last year to book candidacy for the general elections.
He will face Botswana Congress Party (BCP) legal affairs secretary, Morgan Moseki and the Umbrella for Democratic Change candidate, Theresa Mmolawa, who is the daughter of the first mayor of Francistown, the late James Ntuane.
“At council level, you are just reduced to an implementer of policies developed by government through those in Parliament.
“At parliamentary level one has the opportunity of influencing policies to suit the nation which is what I want,” reasons Billy.
The father of five says given an opportunity to go to Parliament, “I can influence policy change to suit my constituents, residents in the city and the nation at large”.
Billy cut his teeth in politics in the1980’s at the Botswana People’s Party (BPP). Then, his family were staunch BPP members, and the young Billy was a youth league leader. By then the party had very militant personalities such former Francistown Mayor Peter Ngoma who also later joined the BDP.
“My late father used to fund most activities of the BPP before we (the family) left to join the Botswana Alliance Movement (BAM). I defected to the BDP in 2002.
“Ngoma was influential in my move to the ruling party. In fact he is the one who signed my BDP membership card.
“I still believe that my move to the BDP was a wise move. I have made a lot of progress in my political career since my move to the BDP,” said the aspirant MP.
In the 2004 general elections, Billy stood and won the Satellite ward, which has since been divided into Satellite North and South. This was his second try, as in 1999, he contested under BAM and lost.
Between 2005 and 2009, Billy served as Francistown City Mayor, a position that gave him prominence and possibly the itch to head for Gaborone.
Billy believes he is ready for Parliament, saying if elected, the focus will not only be on his constituency but the city and the nation at large.
The main area of priority will be to attract investment in the city as well as advocate for the improvement of the education sector in the country. “I will engage all businesses in the city to see how we can best work with each other to improve the economy of the city.
“Currently there is no platform where business officials and city authorities meet to discuss how they can best deal with trade challenges in the city.
“Such a forum will be vital if we harbour ambitions of improving the ailing fortunes of the city’s economy,” he said.
The former mayor holds strong belief that the city has a lot of investment opportunities, only that it is not marketed vigorously by the current leadership as an investment destination of choice.
“The city is surrounded by mines, even Orapa is not that far. With its proximity to mines I believe it should attract notable investors than it is currently doing. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that we attract investors through vigorous marketing,” he said. He said the textile-producing firms such as Nortex and B&M could be used as bait to attract clothing manufacturing firms to operate in the city.
“Nortex and B&M garments will then supply the manufacturing firms with fabrics to manufacture clothes. This way the economy of the city will grow and unemployment among youth will be alleviated.”
Billy believes to improve the education sector, the ministry needs three full ministers.
“I believe the approach used by the government at the moment is not effective. The ministry is very big and needs at least three full ministers. The other minister should be responsible for primary, the other one secondary while the third minister will focus on tertiary education. This way the work load at the ministry will be manageable thus improving the effectiveness of the ministry,” said Billy.
While acknowledging that the country is facing economic difficulties, Billy says in Parliament, he would advocate for the upgrading for the Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital (NRH) and the construction of a new district hospital.
He noted that in its current state, Nyangabgwe, could not cope with the demand for its services.
Even the number of doctors has to be increased to cope with the number of patients in the city and surrounding villages. “In recent years the government has set its priorities on other projects I have mentioned above and was difficult to upgrade Nyangabgwe and build a new hospital because of lack of funds.
“Now that the projects have been started it is the right moment to advocate for a new hospital and upgrading of NRH as well increasing the number of doctors,” he said.
Moreover, Billy would advocate for the construction of an integrated entertainment and sports centre for the youth. Billy dismisses opposition accusation that the BDP has failed people in Francistown. In the 1990s, he said, the city was run by the BPP and the party failed to make any strides with regards to the developments.
“If you look at the city from around 2000 to date while it was under the BDP the city has made strides. We have seen the city growing impressively the years before the recession crept in,” he said.
Billy points to the serviced plots at Gerald Estates location, storm water drainage systems and construction of roads at Monarch as well as the new state of art airport are among projects as evidence that the BDP has not failed in the city.
The construction of a new junior secondary school and design of the business district planned for Gerald Estates are some of the projects Billy speaks proudly of as BDP government achievements.
Also on his list of notables is the construction of the Francistown-Ramokgwebana and Francistown-Tonota roads.
“Once these development projects have all been completed, Francistown will blossom into a great business centre, because infrastructure is also vital when it comes to attracting businesses.
“The only project that I believe that the BDP led government did not execute well is the construction of the stadium but I believe that overall the party has done well in the city in recent years,” he said. Billy is a teacher by profession, but he only taught for four years before joining the corporate world. He currently has business interests, with his main operation being Air Cooling. He is also into construction and farming businesses.