Botswana, especially the youth, must remember that in February 2006 the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) majority in Parliament vehemently and with impunity opposed the motion by Gaborone Central MP Dumelang Saleshando which requested ''government to review all youth economic empowerment schemes/ programmes and consider the consolidation of such schemes/ programmes with a view to establishing a national revolving fund that offers equity finance, subsidised loans and grants on a sustainable basis'' under the name youth development fund.
In an unprecedented turn of events as per the culture of the BDP, when he presented the 2009/10 budget the Minister of Finance and Development Planning Baledzi Gaolatlhe is quoted saying that ''the Out of School Youth Grant Programme will be transformed into a Youth Development Fund during 2009/2010 and administered by CEDA. The Fund will run parallel to the existing Young Farmers Fund already being administered by CEDA and will provide complementary funding for non-farming youth projects''. It does not need a genius to realize that this is exactly what Dumelang Saleshando requested three years ago. The motion presented by the BCP legislator was motivated by a number of things, including, instilling financial discipline in youth entrepreneurs and making a one-stop-centre in accessing finances. As a party we have always believed that the Out of School Youth Grant system needs to be reviewed because it was not sustainable just like the FAP which the BDP used as a political tool in the 1990's. There are plenty examples of its failures in Selibe Phikwe and the infamous Haltek Textile Company at G- West Industrial.
