16 Jul 2024

The leader of Botswana National Front (BNF), Advocate Duma Boko says Botswana belongs to the people hence the powers to run it should match the interests of its people.

Speaking at the BNF Annual Conference Sunday in Gaborone, Adv. Boko who is also president of Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) said it was unfortunate that leaders nowadays thought the powers and rights to run a country belonged to them.

Advocate Boko said the UDC  would convene a mass gathering for all UDC parties to focus on four agenda items.

First, he said they would focus on the UDC Convention to come ratify the Umbrella for Democratic Change, second item would be to unfold UDC manifesto which detailed their agreement with its members upon elections.

Third, Adv. Boko said they would be unveiling their overall candidates and the last item would be launching their elections campaign dubbed: Hera Dilale.

He urged members to know that all the challenges they were facing could only be solved by them, not anyone else and urged them to take charge in building the Botswana they wanted.

Meanwhile, the leader of Alliance for Progressives (AP) and Vice President of UDC, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe said beyond October, UDC envisioned an advanced Botswana with a constitution that addressed people’s rights and interests.

Mr Gaolathe said the constitution should cater for employment opportunities for all, citing that their plan as the opposition was to birth big companies that would provide sufficient jobs and export their products and services for the growth of the country’s economy.

He said the strategic plan would ensure that Batswana did not worry about their jobs being taken by foreigners in their own country, adding that the last time Botswana built a giant company was in 1976 when establishing Debswana.

However, he said history had to change and it all started with a clear agenda to build big firms which would outperform what had been the status quo.

Mr Gaolathe said Botswana did not have homebound banks which carried the interests of the country, as such it made it difficult to establish these envisaged giant companies which would empower indigenous citizens and create wealth for the country since there were no project funders.

Therefore, he said as the opposition they intended to set up a sovereign fund for their envisaged Botswana which would sell its shares to citizens and help fund these big companies that would ultimately bring wealth to the country.

With regards to agricultural produce, Mr Ndaba said they envisioned to come up with defined strategies that would enable the country to produce same amounts as Serbia and Ukraine, at least one tonne per hectare as opposed to the usual 230kg/h.

In addition, he said the  UDC endeavored to cultivate an education system which would equip students with extensive skills to build and produce quality products for the betterment of the nation, a Botswana where international flights would connect through because of its advanced infrastructural developments.

This, he said, would birth more jobs for the locals and cited Dubai as an ideal benchmark for the envisaged plan.

With regard to the health sector, Mr Gaolathe said the new Botswana would stand ready with increased number of doctors and nurses, adding that they would also build then better staff accommodation to enable them to bring desired results in their line of service.

Mr Gaolathe reiterated that they endeavored to build a country which rewarded its people based on their hardwork and the belief that the systems were allowing for anyone regardless of their background to become a powerhouse and a victor.  Ends