While there was a public outcry over the cost of the bid book at P61 million, Rakgare said the actual cost was P43 million, with the rest of the money going to government coffers as tax. He said the whole bidding process did not cost the country P72 million as per the reports, adding he will soon share the proper figures with the President and Cabinet. "The P61 million spent on the consultant to develop the Bid Book included a significant amount of tax. The actual cost was P43 million and the rest is tax that returned to government coffers," Rakgare said in an interview this week.
“I understand when people complain because there are other demanding things that we should do but sport is equally important. If we had won the bid, between now and 2027, Botswana was not going to be the same. Our people were going to make money and improve service delivery. The bid created hope for young players because at the moment, football in this country is a mess. Players are losing hope in football. I wanted to create a platform for them to be seen,” he added. Rakgare said it was a bold step to bid. “We did well according to the facilities inspection report; we were ranked number two with 65% behind Algeria. Those who were asking how we can bid with the kind of facilities we have, do not know that Qatar won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup without stadiums. That argument was baseless, ill-informed; people need to understand the processes of bidding and we had government support. The world has seen that we had interest. Unfortunately, Namibia pulled out at the last minute,” he said.
