New And Strong Institutions Are The Seeds To A Harvest In The New Botswana

1. Thank you Mr Speaker, that by your delicate hand I rise to perform a great and privileged duty, to respond on behalf of so many citizens of this magnificent land, to the 2019/20 Budget Speech by Hon Minister Ken Matambo.  How I wish Madam Speaker Kokorwe was here this afternoon to quench her keen and genuine interest in the economic challenges of our time, but it is the final stages of her recovery that have kept her away, we pray for her speedy and full recovery. 

1. Mr Speaker, the ultimate aim of all our plans regardless of the political party in power is to create well paying jobs and opportunities for all of our people.  We are in a current economic state of do or die, the likes of which we have never witnessed; and so many of our people – the unemployed, retired persons, taxi-men, security guards, artists, performers, artisans domestic workers, nurses, teachers, soldiers, policemen, clerks, small-business owners, graduates, professionals, civil servants, herdsmen and workers in general are in a state of despair and anxiety about their future and that of their children.  

1. Mr Speaker, these people, our people, wish to know if there is a way out of this morass, this economic state of do or die, they wish to know if there is some possibility, no matter how remote, to transform this economy so it can put all our people at work, and give them opportunities to feed their families and become the best they can be.  They wish to know if this is possible and how it can be done.  They gleaned and searched for this possibility in the recent Budget Speech, but the answer lies in much more than any Budget speech.  

1. Mr Speaker, go out in the streets of our ghettos, and the yards of the hamlets, you will find a desperation, a loss of hope about what can become of this nation.  But I stand here today and say I have hope, I have a faith about what is possible for this nation if we all came together to choose the right path, because the choice is there, the choice between the old way of doing things or a new way, a choice between the old political institutions or the new political institutions, the choice between the old Botswana or the New Botswana.  The choice between refurbishment or renewal.  

1. I choose a path of renewal, I choose a new way of doing things, I choose the building of new inclusive political institutions without which we cannot inspire the building of robust, creative and inclusive economic institutions that are so necessary in bringing about a new Botswana that gives all our people sustainable jobs and opportunity. 

1.  This is of course is necessary to alleviate the daunting challenges of our time:  most of our people are not at work, more of our people than we can count live in poverty and in appalling life conditions; the disparities in the material living conditions, wealth and income, are extreme and alarming.  These conditions put together threaten our social cohesion if not our unity as a people.  If we do not fix them we will lose our character, our sense of collective purpose and our happiness as a people.

1. And so they question we need to ask ourselves are: i) Does our budget catalyze our aspirations including our ambitions for job creation, diversification of our economy, neutralization of inequalities; ii) Is our governance system or political institutions tailored to extract the best value from and ensure the highest impact of our national budget; iii) Do we harbor the right priorities in our budget allocation of resources as a nation given our vision; iv) Do we have the systems in place to guarantee efficiency, effectiveness and value for money in our public finances.  There are many more questions to ask but these are the pertinent one for our time 

Is our governance system or political institutions tailored to extract the best our of any national budget?  The answer is of course no