Boko, who made many promises on the eve of the 2024 election, told a Kgotla meeting in Kanye this week that he needs three years to perform magic after inheriting an ailing economy with empty coffers. That means Boko can fully deliver on his promises a year before the next General Election in 2029. As the opposition bloc continues to remind him of the pledges made by his party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), in the 2024 election manifesto, Boko said he needs time. Boko emphasised that once he is done with the changes after three years, the country will be unrecognisable. Boko said when they talk about three years of change, they will have to do away with old ways of doing things. “We want instant changes and for example when we talk about land allocation, it has be done immediately,” he stated. He said to fulfill the three-year target, they will cut all the red tape in government and fix all the policies that make it difficult to achieve results in record time. “If at all our laws are delaying service delivery, we are going to change those laws,” he said.
Boko said the law is meant to make things easier for Batswana, but if the same law prevents progress, then the lawmakers will change it. Boko indicated that he agrees that all of the problems the country is facing have to be resolved. “Now it’s a matter of when and how,” he said. Boko said that when it comes to implementing and fulfilling these promises, that is when challenges are realised. “I am your messenger, so I should not hide these challenges from you. I have to tell you the truth about where we are without boasting and cheering,” President Boko said. Boko added that the economy has fallen tremendously because of the country's past decisions. “These decisions have created problems for us; therefore, we must accept these decisions and count our losses. Currently, there is an outage of electricity and a lack of access to water in some parts of the country. There are many other necessities which are not there,” he emphasised. Boko said he has to tell Batswana about the situation the past administration put them in. He said everyone can take part in solving some of these challenges. Boko highlighted that the country is pressured to pay some of its debt and, at the same time, he has to carry out the wishes of the electorate who voted him into power last October. “Giving people their promised P1, 800 while they continue to stay in the dark is not sensible. That is more like making a deliberate mistake,” Boko pointed out. Boko said that once the country recovers financially, his government will take Batswana to a land of abundance and prosperity. “Re ya koo (We are going there),” he said.
Boko has maintained that what he promised was the words he uttered without the knowledge of what was actually inside. He said the past administration led by former president Mokgweetsi Masisi made it seem like the grass was greener on the other side while in actual fact it was a desert. Last year, leading up to the election, Boko, among others, promised stipends of P2, 500 per month for Ipelegeng workers and tertiary education students. He also promised to raise the minimum wage of P1, 500 to a living wage of P4, 000 and increase the old age pension to P1, 800. Boko, who now promises that Batswana will not stay in the desert forever, reached his first 100 days in office in February but has received criticism that his government is still unable to fulfil its promises. Although Boko has not yet brought Batswana out of the wilderness, his government has since increased the Old Age Pension (Tandabala Allowance) from P830 to P1, 400 and introduced a P300 monthly allowance for newborns until their first birthday. Boko’s main critic, the Leader of Opposition (LoO), Dumelang Saleshand, says it is shocking that the UDC is deafeningly silent on a large majority of the promises made on the eve of elections. “As the BCP, we strongly believed that some of the promises were recklessly ambitious,” he told Parliament during the Budget Speech in February. Saleshando said the voters believed the pledges and accorded the UDC an opportunity to deliver the promises as a ruling party. Saleshando has dismissed Boko’s lack of knowledge. He said all of the UDC promises were made with the full knowledge of the state of the economy.
