Dear Editor
I’ve been in Botswana for about nine days until the 12th August. I read newspapers and heard people converse. The hot issues are the proposed liquor bill and media bill. The President of Botswana, Ian Khama Seretse Khama, hates intoxicating beverages so much so that the government of Botswana has proposed to slam a levy of 70% on alcoholic beverages. Kgalagadi Breweries, a subsidiary of SAB has warned against such an increase and threatened to close its plants in Botswana. This will have a negative impact on the industry. There will, of course, be a loss of jobs. The sector will take long to recover when Ian Khama vacates the presidency and is replaced by someone else. There is a better way Khama’s government can deal with the scourge of alcohol abuse rather than imposing such a heavy levy on intoxicating beverages. He can embark on an intensive education campaign showing the dangers of alcohol. This education campaign should be included in the school curriculum even at primary level to the technique of “catch them when they are young”. Forget about the older generation which vows that “they will get the ruling BDP where it hurts, that is, at the polls”.
Sam Ditshego,
Kagiso,
South Africa.
