02 Oct 2019

Although the are four candidates vying for Serowe West parliamentary seat, only three candidates turned up for the for the Radio Botswana  parliamentary debates in Serowe on Saturday.

Botswana Patriotic Front candidate  Mr Tshekedi Khama  will contest for the seat on October 23 general elections with Mr Moemedi Dijeng of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) candidate Mr Rowland Gambule while Alliance for Progressives (AP) would be represented by Mr Leremela Bogosing. 

Messrs Dijeng, Bogosing and Gambule participated in the debate while Mr Khama did not turn up. Mr Dijeng said Botswana was one of Africa’s absolute economic and human development success stories, adding that it had made the transition from the least developed country at the time of independence to middle income.

Mr Dijeng urged constituents to vote for his party because it had renewed hope for Batswana and continued to review some policies.

Further, Mr Dijeng said there were government assistance programmes in place to uplift the livelihoods of Batswana.

He said under President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s administration, government had become more transparent and worked in consultation with Batswana. Mr Dijeng agriculture provided raw materials to many industries which form the backbone of the nation’’, he said.

Further, Mr Dijeng said the BDP government would ensure that the tourism sector contributed to the country’s economy with Batswana at the forefront of its operation. Mr Dijeng said cultural tourism could also be developed whereby the tourists would interact with Batswana and learn the local culture.

For his part, Mr Bogosing appealed to electorates to vote for his party, saying its manifesto reflected a new Botswana where they would create a viable economic climate which would ultimately produce more job opportunities.

In addition, Mr Bogosing said if voted into power, his party would review the constitution. Regarding corruption in Botswana, he said his party would initiate a package of anti-corruption laws and promote the independence of the judiciary.

He said the country had been robbed of its national wealth  and public funds by some high ranking officials. Mr Bogosing stated that corruption was an international epidemic that had collapsed many economies world wide.

 Mr Gambule said his party was worried by the declining academic results in the Serowe west constituency saying his party would  make  pre-school compulsory and government  would pay  fees for the pupils.

He said he was greatly disappointed by the results produced by schools in Serowe and he attributed the poor results to high teacher-student ratio.  He said his party would introduce teacher students’ ratio of 1:25.

Further, Mr Gambule said when voted into power the AP would make all clinics operate 24 hours. ENDs