02 Jul 2014

The Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe has urged Mahalapye East constituents to vote for Botswana Democratic Party’s (BDP) parliamentary candidate, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso in the 2014 general elections.

Launching Ms Tshireletso in Mahalapye on July 1, Dr Kedikilwe said for Batswana to continue enjoying the fruits of government programmes such as poverty eradication, they should vote for BDP in the upcoming general elections.

He said the BDP under the leadership of President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama came up with many programmes to uplift the livelihoods of Batswana such as poverty eradication, LIMID, ISPAAD and Ipelegeng.

He said the BDP government did this despite the global economic recession, which collapsed many economies and led to decline in government revenue.

Unlike in other countries, he said BDP government took the initiative to avoid retrenchments and further came up with programmes that would improve the livelihoods of Batswana not employed hence the Ipelegeng programme came into being.

In addition, the Vice President said Botswana was affected by the recession which resulted in government re-prioritising projects, adding that some projects were deferred due to lack of funds. He said some of deferred projects included tarring of roads within Mahalapye East constituency.

He implored the constituents not to despair because government had not forgotten about the deferred projects, adding that the projects will be implemented when the economy improves.

Dr Kedikilwe further informed the constituents that government has embarked on multimillion pula projects that will help the country diversify its economy despite the recession.

These projects, he said include among others Morupule B power station, construction of three dams, construction of the country’s medical school at the University of Botswana and improvement of telecommunication through connection of fibre optic network.

He said electricity is very important in driving the economy hence government took the initiative to build a 600MW Morupule B power station.  He further said government will also build another 300MW power plant dubbed Morupule five and six.

He stated that the projects will ensure that Botswana becomes self-sufficient in power and ultimately export it to other countries. Regarding the three newly constructed dams, Dr Kedikilwe explained that the three dams will supply a total of 530 million cubic metres of water.

He said for these projects to continue supporting this economy, Batswana should give BDP priority over opposition parties by voting for Ms Tshireletso and her councillors.

For her part, Ms Tshireletso thanked Mahalapye East constituents for their support urging them to take her back to parliament through their votes.

Another speaker, Dr Gloria Somolekae who is also Assistant Minister of Health said BDP is alive. She said Ms Tshireletso has a huge responsibility of improving lives of people living in remote areas and is doing her job diligently.

She said Ms Tshireletso also served in the poverty eradication committee and other committees inside and outside the country. Ends