12 Aug 2019

Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) president, Advocate Duma Boko says it is the responsibility of every government to ensure that citizens live decent lives.

Launching Ngami constituency prospective parliamentary candidate on August 11, Mr Carter Hikuama and nine prospective council candidates, Adv. Boko said upon assumption of power, UDC would ensure that people’s lives were improved through creation of employment and better wages.

He said if people of Ngami constituency wanted a change for better livelihoods, they should vote for UDC in the upcoming general election.

Adv. Boko noted that currently public service salaries were relatively low for someone to live a dignified life, adding that under the UDC government, no employee would earn anything less than P3 000.

He underscored the need for government to seriously address the issue of public officers’ salaries to ensure quality service delivery.

The UDC leader said in their manifesto, the party assured Batswana that 100 000 jobs would be created in the first year of its governance, a living wage of P3 000, P1 500 for old age pensioners and a tertiary education allowance of P2 500.

He condemned BDP for failing Batswana under the pretext that the country had no money, citing an example of Lesotho that its economy was lower than that of Botswana, but old age pensioners earned 1200 Loti (Lesotho currency) which is about P858.

On the issue of 100 000 jobs, the UDC president said it was attainable in the sense that currently in schools one teacher can have a class of 40 students, which was an inappropriate ratio, noting that under the UDC the ratio was going to be one teacher to 25 students, and by doing so, already they would have created a post for another teacher.

For his part, Mr  Hikuama said challenges facing Ngamiland was poverty and high unemployment rate, therefore constituents should vote wisely to ensure that these challenges were addressed by the UDC.

He also said Ngamiland was way behind in terms of developments.

“We want proper roads and hospitals” he said.

UDC labour secretary, Mr Justin Hunyepa advocated for Mr Hikuama, noting that he was the best parliamentary candidate given his background of representing and advocating for worker’s rights when he was a teacher.

He said Mr Hikuama should be sent to Parliament because he would represent Ngami people well and would want to see lives changing for better.  Ends