05 Jul 2015

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has called on Botswana Democratic  Party (BDP) members to continue to serve the party diligently and tirelessly.

He said they should familiarise themselves with the party constitution and manifesto.

Giving a keynote address at the party’s 36^th national congress in Mmadinare on Friday July 3, President Khama encouraged democrats to live the values as underscored by democracy, development, self reliance, unity and botho.

He said it was the responsibility of party members to ensure solidarity and tolerance within the party. “I should show my appreciation to you all for helping me rid party factions. We don’t, however, need individual contests and rivalry to replace those that the factions produced,” he said. 

President Khama said he was hopeful that what happened in the last primary elections, where those who lost did not accept the results, would be a thing of the past. 

President Khama said BDP members should tell Batswana that the party was the only organisation that cares about their welfare, speaks the truth and was compassionate and caring and understands ‘botho.’

He said they should explain to Batswana that the BDP was the only party that was committed to provide and has the ability to provide jobs, prosperity and dignity to Batswana. 

President Khama further said the BDP was re-elected on the basis of a detailed manifesto that promised a better future for Batswana based on the party’s past accomplishments. 

“I highlighted in the foreword of our manifesto that I have had the opportunity to travel the length and breadth of this country before and since I took office. 

The lessons my cabinet and I learnt from Batswana were valuable and helped shape the roadmap we are pursuing as the ruling party and government of the day,” he said.

He noted that the BDP was in power by virtue of having made commitments to Batswana to deliver a better life and future.

“It is in the nation’s best interest that the BDP continues to be in government for a long time to come. Be it infrastructure development like hospitals, schools, roads, dams, water, cities, towns or programmes like poverty eradication, the fight against HIV/AIDS, youth empowerment or job creation, only the BDP can deliver all these and many others,” he said.

President Khama said having successfully weathered the storm of the economic downturn, Batswana could look forward to better days ahead. He said the positive trends should allow the country to revive some of the postponed projects, along with outstanding issues affecting conditions of service among public service employees.

“To be meaningful to Batswana, economic growth has to be accompanied by expanded employment, which is why our manifesto listed job creation at the top of our aspirations. 

To reiterate what I said in my own message to the voters, of all our campaign promises, tackling unemployment is the most important one, especially among our talented youth. We can and shall do more,” he said. 

President Khama said the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) was a key instrument for job creation, adding that since its inception in 2010, it has been facilitating employment and generating business opportunities by promoting the consumption of local products. ENDS