Nkaigwa questions VP�s loyalties
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday February 14, 2017 18:00
He also suggested that the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Kenneth Matambo should consider resigning from his post, as Nkaigwa accused him of failing Batswana.
Nkaigwa stated that he has never seen a Budget Speech that solely aims to punish Batswana like the one that Matambo recently presented in Parliament.
“You are failing us as Batswana. There is nowhere in your speech which reflects your plans towards the betterment of Batswana lives, but rather you are suggesting that you are going to reap money out of them.”
Nkaigwa added: “It is so disturbing that some people in government like the greedy Masisi are allowing the Indians to control the country’s economy whilst Batswana are suffering”.
He alleged that some Indians are sponsoring Masisi towards his 2019 general election campaign, something which Nkaigwa said shows that if Masisi makes it into the highest office, the country would be fully controlled by Indians.
“We have seen Masisi parading at his rallies, Indians who sponsored him with cars and money. This immorality has rocked Botswana and it need not be condoned. Such behaviour is the reason why we are failing as a country,” Nkaigwa alleged.
He claimed that the Indians are the ones running ‘big businesses’ in Botswana because of the support they get from Masisi whilst denying Batswana opportunities to venture into lucrative business to become worthwhile entrepreneurs. He said Batswana are capable of running profitable businesses, but they are being denied such opportunities because Masisi is handing out favours to the Indians in exchange of sponsorships.
He said that Government has outsourced services from the business community, a majority of whom Nkaigwa claims are Indians. “Government is buying commodities at higher prices from such businesses whilst it could be buying them in local shops at lesser prices. For example, a pen that Government could be buying at P1, they buy it at P20 each.
This is a lot of money that could be used to increase salaries for civil servants,” Nkaigwa argued.
He added that the ruling party is killing small-to-medium businesses by recently introducing unnecessary charges and levies.
“Batswana who have been running driving schools as enterprises will soon be put out of business because Government is suggesting they pay money amounting to P20,000 to start-up.
Where do you think an ordinary Motswana would get such money? This is another plan to lock locals out of these businesses and further enrich Indians because they are the ones who can afford such fees,” Nkaigwa cited.
He said that street vendors are denied the opportunity to run their small businesses with regulations that hinder them from operating whilst Indians are operating businesses in Botswana with ease.
“It hurts me that Batswana are suffering at the hands of another greedy Motswana who also gets the support from Government,” Nkaigwa said.
The Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Patrick Ralotsia called Nkaigwa to order admonishing him for his utterances against Masisi, who was not present in Parliament yesterday.
“I do not think it is right for Nkaigwa to make such allegations and throw around such accusations against the VP and Indians. He should provide this House with evidence to support his statements,” Ralotsia said.
Interrupting Ralotsia’s remonstration, Nkaigwa stated that he once made the same comments in the presence of the VP, who never disputed the allegations.