Halt the army barracks at State House - Mmolotsi

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Wednesday March 31, 2010 00:00

 

Commenting on the issue in Parliament yesterday, he said that there is no need to build army barracks at State House as there is no imminent security threat to President Ian Khama. He said that three former presidents stayed at the State House before Khama, hence there was no need to spend P5million to build the barracks at a time when the country's economy was going through a recession.

He was convinced that there were many avenues that could still be explored to increase government revenue-base instead of introducing VAT. He said that currently, ministers have two vehicles each and, as a temporary arrangement, they could distribute their spare vehicles to other government departments. Mmolotsi said that there was much lavish spending in government, which was why he would not support the VAT increase. He said a minister recently told Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soldiers that their salaries were far below his dog allowance and that they were nothing to him. He said unnecessary allowances for ministers should also be reviewed.

He further cited the nomination of councillors and Specially Elected MPs as another system that could have been suspended because the country is going through an economic crisis. He said the 113 nominated councillors and four SEMPs 'are a waste of money' that could be used to cover other important things than increasing VAT. He said that it was untrue that civil servants had accepted the VAT increase nor did they accept government's failure to raise their salaries.

'I have consulted with my constituents and they are strongly against the VAT increase, they do not understand why salaries for civil servants were not increased, and they want nomination of councillors abolished as a matter of urgency because the beneficiaries are a public nuisance,' he stated.

Mmolotsi said that increased VAT is going to make it difficult for Batswana to build themselves houses. Another issue, he said, was the recent introduction of the dress code for public servants, which is going to force them to increase their wardrobes. At this juncture, Education and Skills Development Minister, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, interjected saying that she had instructed teachers to stop wearing T-shirts and buy long-sleeve shirts from Chinese shops at a cheaper price. But Mmolotsi insisted that 'VAT is going to impoverish people'.

Earlier on, Minister of Health, Dr John Seakgosing, said that government was broke and needed cash injection and that the only route was to increase VAT. He said that everybody should contribute from their pockets and help government raise the P700 million it needs. He said that with that money government could build a secondary school, a hospital and sewerage system that his constituency needs so badly. He added that the money could also be used to purchase drugs for hospitals. The debate on VAT-increase was in progress at the time of going to press.