18 Sep 2019

There is need for sporting and recreational facilities in the Ngami constituency to nurture the talents of athletes and artists in the area.

This was said by the Alliance for Progressives (AP) prospective parliamentary candidate for Ngami, Mr Ndobano Lokae during a Radio Botswana debate in Gumare on Friday. Mr Lokae is contesting the Ngami parliamentary seat with Mr Thato Kwerepe of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Mr Carter Hikuama of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and Mr Lekopanye Ledimo of Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF)

The AP representative said areas such as Gumare and Etsha have talented sportspersons who hardly made it to professionalism because there was lack of relevant sporting facilities, where talents could be nurtured.

He also said Ngami people were gifted in performing arts, citing the renowned Seperu and Diware dances, adding that there was a need for recreational facilities to sharpen their talents.

Mr Lokae pleaded with constituents to vote him to Parliament in October to advocate for such developments.

He also said there was need for a landfill in the area, adding that such a development would create employment for locals. 

Mr Lokae also promised to address the Wayeyi and Hambukushu chieftainship issues and advocate for their representation at Ntlo ya Dikgosi.

For his part, Mr Kwerepe said his party had programmes geared towards improving the lives of Batswana, hence the need to retain the ruling party. 

He said government took the decision to introduce mother tongue education in schools as a way of improving the education system.

Mr Kwerepe, who is also the Assistant Minister of Basic education, said government introduced a system of multiple pathways to help identify each child’s talent at an early age.

Government, he said, was going to drill boreholes for two clusters in Gumare and Etsha, so that people could start growing vegetables as the market had been already secured at Khoemacau Mine.

On how to improve water supply in the area, Mr Kwerepe said they were going to revive boreholes of Department of Water Affairs that used to be the source of water.

Meanwhile, Mr Hikuama promised that when elected, he would advocate for developments such as better roads and a senior secondary school in Ngami.

He said there should be a sustainable beef market for Ngamiland farmers to enable them to sell their cattle.

Mr Hikuama said upon assumption of power, UDC would transform the education system for the better, adding that phablets would be provided to each student to address shortage of textbooks, as the learning material would be downloaded and accessed from those phones.

For his part, Mr Ledimo said under the BPF government, there would be cooperatives, where farmers would be selling their harvest.

He also said BPF was going to establish specialist hospitals in the country, and that each government clinic would have a doctor.

As for the human-wildlife conflict issue, Mr Ledimo said they were going to employ people from local communities as scouts, who would be trained to scare the animals away.

He also said if elected to Parliament, he would advocate for proper accommodation for officers at Dobe Border Gate, as they currently use tents. ends