Ghost houses spook MPs
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday March 3, 2020 14:23
These include office buildings as well as houses, which are mostly vacant because of poor workmanship.
The legislators accused government of having wasted billions of Pula that could have been used to benefit citizens and develop the country instead of constructing houses that stay for decades unoccupied.
The irate MPs said the phenomenon of spook houses was countrywide as there were a number of government buildings that were constructed until they got dilapidated before they were unoccupied. The MPs were commenting following questions from the MP for Francistown South, Ignatius Moswaane.
Moswaane had asked the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Eric Molale why the Centre for People Living with Disabilities building behind Francistown College of Technical and Vocational Training (FCTVE) remained unoccupied to date.
He also wanted to know how long the building had stayed unoccupied and how much was spent in its construction. He also wanted to know what the City of Francistown intended to do with the building, especially as it had stayed for too long without a tenant.
Moswaane accused government of negligence and failing to take responsibility over the eight-year period in which it lost P14million when constructing the said building. He further questioned whether the ministry did not do monitoring and evaluation of its properties.
“How can you construct a building with such a huge sums of money and leave it unoccupied for years until it gets dilapidated. This says a lot about monitoring of your projects. It concerns us as legislators as government funds continue to be wasted.
What worries me the most is that majority of those projects would have taken money that was supposed to have been used for other projects,” Moswaane said.
Still in Parliament Moswaane asked the minister if he was aware that a number of government buildings in Francistown excluding the one he (Moswaane) had mentioned earlier have been unoccupied for years and what the ministry planned to do about them.
Commenting on Moswaane’s question, other MPs said a number of government buildings around the country remained unoccupied for years and that was worrisome. The Francistown South MP, Wynter Mmolotsi pleaded with the minister’s team to look at all the unoccupied government buildings countrywide and not only the one that Moswaane referred to.
“There are houses which were constructed and have been unoccupied for years at Block 6 location in Gaborone. If not mistaken, those flats remained unoccupied for more than five years. Your team should focus on all of these buildings because there is a lot misuse of funds happening under your ministry that needs to be addressed,” Mmolotsi pleaded.
Sharing similar sentiments, the MP for Serafhe/Ramokgonani, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang labelled the ruling party as dysfunctional as it builds facilities that thereafter stay for decades unoccupied.
Responding to MPs’ comments, Molale said the Centre for People Living with Disabilities behind FCTVE remained unoccupied due to an omission made in providing certain critical items. The items are kitchen appliances and equipment, furniture, other electrical works, manpower and recurrent costs.
Molale conceded that the construction of the facility started on October 2, 2008 and remained unoccupied since its completion on June 29, 2011.
“The facility was built at the cost of P14, 427, 469.46. Despite that there are effort to make use of the facility. For instance, in June 2020 the Ministry of Health and Wellness expressed interest to turn the facility into a regional rehabilitation centre.
“The negotiations with Francistown City Council were concluded in December 2017 and a memorandum of lease agreement, for 25 years, was signed with the ministry effective April 2019 to April 2044,” Molale said.
He stated that the facility was currently undergoing refurbishment, which commenced in October 2019, and it is anticipated for completion by end of June 2020. It is expected to start operating around September 2020.
Molale agreed that it was a high opportunity cost to have constructed the buildings that remained unoccupied. He disclosed that the ministry has constituted a team to follow the matter up and determine the cause of the problem. He said after establishing that, due process would be followed adding that it wafor 25 years was signeds an issue that he would incorporate in his committee of supply speech soon.
“I will look at these issues where funding was taken the way it has been taken and infrastructures was left incomplete and unoccupied for a period of time. This is something that I will be working on,” Molale said.