You are an irresponsible bunch, minister tells opposition MPs

Lekopanye Mooketsi | Friday December 5, 2014 14:24

 

You are an irresponsible bunch, minister tells opposition MPs

He told Parliament on Wednesday that it was unfortunate Batswana have elected leaders who will not represent the interests of the people.

The Tswapong North MP said the opposition plays a critical role in a democracy and is regarded as a government in waiting but the current lot in Botswana has nothing to offer.  He does not foresee the current opposition MPs playing an advisory role to the government.  

Maele’s beef is that he cannot make head or tail of the opposition MPs response to the State of the Nation Address by President Ian Khama. He said even the Leader of Opposition, DumaBoko is no better. Maele said the opposition leader failed to address the youth, health and agriculture in his response to Khama’s address. He faulted Boko for ignoring agriculture, which is the backbone of the rural economy. Maele said there is no leader who can fail to talk about rural development and dismissed Boko’s response as poetry. He hailed President Khama’s address saying it touched all pertinent issues. He condemned Boko’s speech saying it does not make sense compared to those of his predecessors like Olebile Gaborone and BotsaloNtuane. He said in his contribution, Boko does not come up with any solutions.  “He is only identifying problems that we already know,” he charged.

Maele suggested that the country should consider electoral reforms.  He wondered why people have to travel to register when they want to vote if they do not stay in their preferred wards or constituencies.

He wants a person living in Gaborone for example but wishing to vote elsewhere to register and vote without travelling from the city. He called for arrangements to be made so that people could vote by proxy. He admires the new electronic voting system recently used in Namibia as it is far much quicker. He proposed that Botswana should benchmark with Namibia.

The minister is convinced that there is an artificial shortage of land in Botswana.  He is concerned about people who sell plots they have been allocated.  He said such people are always joining the queues to apply for more land to sell.

He said his constituency needs a hospital that will cover Lerala and Maunatlala.   He told Parliament that people from his constituency cause congestion at the Palapye Hospital. Maele called for the establishment of satellite police stations in Tswapong. He said there is only one police station in Maunatla and since Tswapong is a hilly area, it takes time to seek services at the facility. He called on government to make Tswapong a sub-district.