Salakae Unhappy With Masisi, Budget
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday February 8, 2016 15:48
Salakae, who was contributing to the 2016-2017 Budget Speech reactions in Parliament, said that he is not convinced that the country would be in good hands when President Ian Khama vacates the presidency in 2018.
“The office of the Vice President led by Masisi is continuously doing what is called tenderisation of the state. His actions scare me and I am afraid of what awaits us from the period 2018 to 2019 after president Khama’s tenure ends. Khama should come here and tell us what is happening because the person he sent to represent him is failing,” he said.
Salakae whose comments ridiculed the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP), which is spearheaded by Masisi’s office, said that Batswana loved Khama, but the problem has been with those he sends to represent him. He said that with too much hype created around the ESP, youth do not want to engage in meaningful activities to lift their lives except talk about getting government tenders.
“The way it has been hyped is not right. Banana ba setse ba gana go tsena dikolo bare ba batla go ja ditendera tsa ESP. Go a tshosa,” he said.
Dismissing the Budget Speech recently presented by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo, Salakae said that it should not be just about allocation of funds to government departments, but should also reflect a political plan that the government of the day has for its citizens.
He said that the country is plagued by high youth unemployment, but the year-to-year growth of the Ipelegeng budget shows that government has no plans to create jobs for citizens except promise tenders.
“I dismiss this budget with the contempt it deserves and if I were Matambo with a rich and colourful CV, I would resign other than to allow my career to be soiled by this. This budget is tenderising the state,” Salakae said. Meanwhile, still in Parliament Tati West MP Biggie Butale commended Matambo saying that he came up with a good budget despite the challenges he faced.
“I commend you minister for this budget. It was not easy because you were caught between a rock and a hard place,” he said.
However, the legislator said that unemployment remains high and should be government’s priority. He challenged government to create new streams of wealth, adding that industrialisation and the use of parastatals could be the way to diversifying the economy.