Resources should be for all
Mmegi Editor | Tuesday October 27, 2015 14:30
Their argument is that the students from the location walk long distances to the nearest senior secondary schools being Mater Spei College and Francistown Senior Secondary. In addition, the councillors argue that there should be a medical centre to relief Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital.
The councillors further argued that the second city needs more infrastructure to draw investors. There is no dispute that services should be brought closer to the people and that such services should be of a higher standard.
However, it is disturbing when our leaders display an attitude of selfishness. Our cities have benefited a lot from previous development budgets at the expense of other citizens of this great nation. The western part of the country has for many years been left behind in terms of development.
The only villages with senior secondary schools are Gantsi and Kang, despite the huge chunk of land found in the areas, as well as the growing population.
These schools cater for students from the many and scattered villages in Kgalagadi and Kweneng West.
Not only that, the area is a desert, a drought-prone place with extreme weather conditions.
This means that it is difficult for the parents of boarding students to monitor their children’s school performance.
Furthermore, the only major hospitals are found in Gantsi and Tsabong.
Residents of those areas travel long distances to access health and education facilities.
To add to their woes, residents in those areas find public transport is in short supply. Travel can take many hours, even days to be able to access such services.
City dwellers already have access to both short and long distance public transportation. It takes one a few minutes to move from one point to another on better roads than those in rural areas.
Another issue that our leaders should bear in mind is that there are few job opportunities for rural area dwellers compared to their counterparts in the cities. They are the ones who should be most assisted to access services already enjoyed by dwellers in the cities.
In such areas, survival of the fittest is a harsh reality where many go to bed on an empty stomach or find extensive choice a luxury they are not able to afford.
We hope that the proposed Economic Stimulus Package will not only benefit urban dwellers, but should also be extended to rural dwellers, who are often forgotten by their ‘masters’ in the metropolis. The bottomline is, resources should be shared fairly and equally.
Today’s thought
“People are pretty much alike. It’s only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities.”
- Linda Ellerbee