20 Aug 2024

It’s a rat race as parties contest to win hearts and minds of  the people ahead of the upcoming October general elections.

During the Radio Botswana debate for Serowe North Constituency in Serowe recently, four parties, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), had thrown their weight to sell and drum up support for their parties.

BDP’s parliamentary hopeful, Mr Puma Mathware, said his party’s programmes were sound to bring up solutions to challenges facing the constituency.

He said he was aware that most villages in the Serowe North constituency were lagging behind in terms of developments, adding  that if given the opportunity to lead the area, he would advocate for change.

The developments, he said included paved roads and internal road networks as well as amenities and medicine availability.

Moreover, Mr Mathware cited the Paje extension area that was in need of a number of amenities and more police officers.

He said he would also strive to resuscitate dams in the area.

Mr Mathware described himself as an industrious community builder, and deserved to be elected into power.

Another aspirant, BCP’s Mr Mathews Batsalelwang said most roads in the constituency especially in Majwaanadipitse and Tshimoyapula  were in a bad state, and made life difficult for residents.

Mr Batsalelwang vowed to prioritise illumination of streets in some parts of the constituency as part of efforts to curb crime since  criminals do as they please undercover of darkness.

He decried the high unemployment rate, particularly in the youth bracket. He said this was a policy concern that  deserved attention.

He was also  of the view that old age pension allowance popularly known as ‘Tandabala’ should be increased to cater for the high cost of living.

UDC’s prospective candidate, Mr Modiri Ntsimanyana said he would serve people with honour and distinction and that his party would build a resilient economy.

He advocated for increase in wages and salaries to enable people to meet basic needs. He said this was aligned to his party’s campaign which centres around of decent wages.

He said creating a conducive environment for the economy, businesses and individuals to thrive was something which his party advocates for. He said when businesses thrive, jobs are created and people’s lives flourish.

The incumbent and BPF’s parliamentary contender for Serowe North, Mr Baratiwa Mathoothe, said health was critical to human life and therefore shortage of medicines in government hospitals and clinics should be dealt with.

He said there was shortage of doctors at Sekgoma Memorial Hospital while abulution blocks in schools in the constituency were in an appalling state.

Justifying why he should be re-elected, he said he had keen interest to advocate for welfare of temporary teachers . He said currently  their payments were delayed causing them to drown in debts.

He also talked about resuscitation of ranches in the constituency that were not active as well as the  dairy project which he said could be used to create jobs and boost food security in the country.

He said through the Constituency Community Project, he installed several boreholes in the constituency at ploughing fields.

He said his constituency  was blessed with natural resources that needed to be harnessed with the help of government for optimum output.

On education, his view was that students of vocational training should be treated equally with those of mainstream education in institutions of higher learning and as such should receive the same stipend monthly allowance.

Mr Mathoothe said when the BPF takes over, they would bring services and developments closer to the people. ENDS