11 Aug 2019

Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) has placed as one of its top priorities, the empowerment of women, both socially and economically, once the party assumes power.

Further, the party also believes that Botswana deserves to have women playing a leadership role in Parliament to ensure that all facets of Botswana’s society have a voice in legislating.

The UDC vice president, Mr Dumelang Saleshando echoed the sentiments when launching Tati East prospective parliamentary candidate, Ms Mathodi Modisapudi and a team of councillors on Saturday.

Mr Saleshando explained that the party was confident that the presence of women in leadership roles, especially in the Tati East constituency would go a long way in highlighting and addressing some of the chronic challenges that the country was currently grappling with such as poverty, inadequate health provision and lack of economic opportunities for graduates.

Consequently, he added that women had proven on many occasions that when given the opportunity to lead, they apply themselves effectively.

Mr Saleshando gave the example of former MP, Ms Joy Phumaphi, whom he said, despite their political differences, was the first legislator to raise alarm on the need to come up with a declaration of assets law many years ago.

Therefore, she urged residents of Tati East to work hard to ensure that Ms Modisapudi goes to Parliament in October as a way of improving the quality of leadership and representation that the country so desired.

The UDC deputy leader also noted that his party was competing in the 2019 general elections to win.

“We are prepared and we are serious about creating 100 000 jobs in 12 months,” he highlighted.

He chided those who argue that this was impossible, noting that most of them lacked an appreciation of economic matters.

For instance, Mr Saleshando explained that the UDC would open up job opportunities by ensuring that there was a construction boom in the country to expand infrastructure, which he said was no longer coping with developments.

He cited the A1 Road, which he said the UDC planned to expand into a multi-carriageway to deal with increasing traffic.

Further, he said that under the UDC government, tenders would be awarded on merit to those who demonstrate in their bidding documents how Batswana would benefit in so far as job creation was concerned.

On other issues, Mr Saleshando asserted that the UDC government would put an end to a scenario that  took place during the Morupule B project, where the majority of beneficiaries were foreign contractors.

He urged the youth to vote for the UDC as it was the only party that had a plan to unlock economic opportunities and liberate them from poverty and hardships.

Consequently, he explained that all the figures that had been included in their manifesto had been thoroughly studied and scientifically analysed by experts to ascertain their feasibility.

Therefore, he highlighted that Batswana were rest assured that it was possible for the country to create jobs if the UDC was voted into power during the general elections.

He explained that creating 100  000 jobs in 12 months and raising the living wage to P3 000, he added, was good for the economy as it increased the number of people who pay taxes, in the processes generating more revenue for the government.

“Our living wage increase is guided by the fact that we want to increase the government tax base,” he said. Mr Saleshando said that in order to attain power, the UDC will need all votes that it can get from anyone without discrimination.

Mr Saleshando mentioned that voters in Tati East had been abandoned by the BDP and its MP Mr Guma Moyo, hence they should put their faith in the UDC if they want developments.

For his part, former national assembly deputy speaker and UDC parliamentary candidate for Tonota, Mr Pono Moatlhodi pleaded with voters in Tati East to vote for the UDC in the upcoming election.

He noted that there was a global movement to empower women by voting them into leadership positions.

Mr Moatlhodi noted that the constituency was lucky to have a female candidate, noting that women bring a fresh perspective to leadership, which could not be provided by men. ENDS