03 Apr 2016

President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama says the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) has been  received well by Batswana especially the component that emphasises the need for local procurement and use of companies at local level.

Giving a keynote address at the BDP 54^th National Council in Gaborone on Friday, President Khama said ESP is aimed at galvanising existing programmes to improve economic growth.

He indicated that ESP came about following BDP’s promise to Batswana prior to the 2014 elections that they would create job opportunities.

He said ESP’s primary objective is to improve the economy by accelerating employment creation, catalysing economic growth through increased government spending in identified sectors and lastly diversifying the economy itself.

He stated that government pledged five national priority areas namely employment creation, poverty eradication, elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, improving education outcomes and fighting corruption.

The President stated that consequent to the promise to Batswana, job creation has been adopted as an immediate area for implementation as it was priority number one.

He highlighted that some of the projects under ESP are construction of roads, expansion of educational facilities, land servicing, construction and update of facilities under the Ministry of Health and some economic diversification projects under the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry.

He said this programme is appreciated because of the economic benefits that improve people’s livelihoods.

Nevertheless, President Khama stated that there are some people who mislead the public into believing that this programme is not meant for their benefit. Ends