Before the former President Festus Mogae left office, he had the opportunity to visit the highest learning institution in the country, the University of Botswana. By then I was a final year student. Your Excellency, I'm particularly exhilarated by the fact that during the visit, students seized the opportunity to voice their concerns and as you might predict, I also had the opportunity to lecture the then President on my understanding of inflation and how this also affects UB students and by extension everyone in our society.
I proceeded from the premise that the 15 percent increase on civil servants' salaries at the exclusion of students receiving government allowance could only be justified on the basis that inflation does, not affect students and if it does then they have been left behind. I argued that a student receiving an allowance pursuant to a grant/loan agreement with the government buys from Spar, Choppies, Score supermarkets etc just like all civil servants.
