26 May 2019

Alliance for Progressives (AP) vice president, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi has challenged political parties to advance commitments that are achievable based on the performance of the economy of Botswana.

Mr Mmolotsi, who is also a Francistown South MP, said this when launching the AP Maun East parliamentary candidate, Mr Baphothulodi Kgari and council candidates.

He pointed out that the economy of Botswana had been operating on deficit for the past three  financial years.

Mr Mmolotsi therefore said political parties should not sell Batswana unachievable dreams that promise high salaries on the first year of ruling.

He said party manifestos should be informed by research and the economy outlook.

As such, Mr Mmolotsi said the AP would nurture the economy in the first six years when it wins elections before making robust changes.

He said once the economy had recovered the AP government would then address challenges such low salaries.

The AP plans to help the economy recover by cutting the import bill, which is about P71 billion, he added.

Mr Mmolotsi stated that the AP would attain food security by giving Batswana who are passionate about farming at least 10 hectares of land, that would be divided for different forms of farming.

He said the AP government would also have in place, a scheme to equip boreholes for the said farmers to sustain the farms, as well as provide infrastructure such as roads and other services.

The AP government, he said would address the issue of land in the country by ensuring applicants were allocated in three years, saying the challenge with the current government was not shortage of land but failure to prioritise issues of land.

He promised that under the AP government, issues of teacher-pupils ratio would be addressed to come up with an ideal set up. He noted that schools performed poorly because teachers were overwhelmed by large numbers of pupils.

Mr Mmolotsi said Batswana should vote for AP, saying it was the only stable party in the country since the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had a new breakaway party while the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) had internal fights with the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), which had resulted in court case.

The AP policy director and  also Okavango parliamentary candidate, Mr Kabelo Mahupe said the AP government would intensify efforts to achieve food security and reduce the import bill from P71 billion to P23 billion.

Mr Mahupe also explained that billions spent on the Ipelegeng program would be channeled towards agriculture to produce enough food for the country as well as create employment.

For his part , the Maun East parliamentary candidate, Mr Baphothulodi Kgari said he was better placed to lead Maun East constituency since he had previously served as a Councilor for Maun Boseja.

Mr Kgari promised the Maun East constituents that he would represent them well and address challenges such as poor infrastructure and high youth unemployment. Ends