BNF calls for Seakgosing, De Graaf's axing

OARABILE MOSIKARE
Staff Writer | Tuesday October 23, 2012 00:00

 

The party spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa said on November 1st, the party will stage a march whose aim will be to call for the resignation of the Minister of Health, Seakgosing, and his colleague at the Ministry of Agriculture, de Graaf.

Mohwasa explained that the party structures from across the country will be encouraged to march to the District Commissioners' Offices to present the petition:'Our partners in the Umbrella will also be invited to take part. In Gaborone, the petition will be presented to the Office of the President,' Mohwasa said.

He said the BNF believes that these two ministries are vital to ensuring the well being of Batswana and her economy and should not be left in the hands of incompetent individuals:'Most Batswana depend on the Cattle Industry for their income and therefore its collapse spells disaster for the nation. The BMC is broke and unable to buy cattle in sufficient numbers or pay on time because of cash-flow problems. The question that then arises is where was the minister and his permanent secretary when the situation spiraled out of control.

Did they take the right decisions?' He said the increasing number of cases that have been brought against the Ministry of Health due to negligence at public hospitals means that the country is unnecessarily losing a lot of money and lives; adding that Seakgosing, as the political head of the Ministry, naturally has to be blamed for this situation:'There are also other incidences of inefficiency in the Ministry of Health which call for a change of guard.

The burning of millions of Pula worth of drugs, recent shortage of ARV drugs, the reports of the death of a child due to administration of wrong ARV drugs are some of the disturbing news coming from this ministry,' said Mohwasa.

He said: 'When President Ian Khama took over in 2008, he came up with a number of Ds. One of the Ds was for Delivery. It is surprising that ministers like these two, who are not measuring up, have been left in Cabinet while the ministries they head are costing the nation so much due to poor delivery.'  

The party calls for a Judicial Commission of Enquiry to investigate the going-ins in these two ministries:'We reject the setting up of a Task Force to investigate the mess at BMC.  There have been allegations raised against the Minister and his officials which should be investigated by a fully independent body. We believe that since the Minister and the Permanent Secretary form part of the subject of the investigation, they should not oversee the investigations.'

'Though blunders by the BDP government have become a daily occurrence, we believe the gaffes and cases of non-delivery at the two ministries have now reached crisis proportions,' Mohwasa stated further saying; 'It is for these reasons that the BNF has called on President Khama to therefore fire Seakgosing and de Graaf immediately and appoint a Judicial Commission of Enquiry. The Judicial Commission of Enquiry will have more powers and ensure that the truth is revealed.'