Fund Ward Development Committees
Olefile Serokolo | Monday September 4, 2017 16:56
He said the WDC suffer because they run their daily responsibilities from donations. Nkaigwa believes that they can play a major role in the development of our nation. “These committees are vital to our people and we should take them serious. If the government was able to issue constituency development funds then I believe that part of the money can be channelled in funding committee action plan,” he said.
Nkaigwa said they are going to push and make sure that something is done concerning WDC. He noted that the reason why government poverty eradication projects are failing is because people are not consulted before implementation of the projects. He said people should be trained and empowered on these projects so that they can have the knowledge on how to run them for the betterment of their lives and those of other people.
The chairperson of the committee on Local Government and Social Welfare, and Francistown East MP, Buti Billy shared the same sentiments as Nkaigwa adding that government should increase the amount of money the WDC members are getting. He said these members always fight tooth and nail in ensuring that developments are running smoothly in the community.
He indicated that this could motivate them to perform their duties diligently. Billy believes that the amount of money they get should match the amount work they perform in the community. “If WDC members are empowered they can go an extra mile and perform some of the duties on behalf on the social workers. The reason why social workers are said to be failing is because they are performing some of the duties they are not trained to perform. Their duty is to identify destitute in the community and map a way forward on how to help them, as such some of the extra duties can be done by WDC members,” he said.
Billy believes that the reason why some of the poverty eradication projects are failing is because of some of the local government policies. He said some policies needs to be reviewed and changed to accommodate some of the beneficiaries of these projects. He gave an example of catering beneficiaries, saying they are struggling and failing because some of the health acts policies restrict them from providing their services in some areas.
Chairperson of Botshabelo Central Ward Development Committee, Kgololego Kabelo applauded Billy’s remarks saying that it is high time the government reward WDC members for their hard work and efforts. He said poverty eradication projects should be given to people who are knowledgeable and willing to take on them to avoid wasting a lot of money. He indicated that some of the projects are given to people who are not prepared and lack knowledge hence they end up collapsing. He further said there should be a monitoring policy whereby the government monitors the projects for a certain period of time so that they can be well established.