Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources Kitso Mokaila last week told parliament that his ministry has enough money to finance water and power generation projects. Raising a point of correction in parliament last week, Mokaila said the water and power crises that are currently gripping the country are not a result of lack of finances, but rather the long time it takes to complete the mega water and power generation projects.
“Let me correct the misplaced idea and belief carried by the honourable member. My Ministry has more money than anybody to generate adequate power and water. Therefore the question to reserve the ESP money particularly for the current power and water shortages does not arise,” he said standing on a point of correction.
“It does not take one or two years to accomplish the projects. The infrastructure required is big. The projects therefore are a long term initiatives.”
However, opposition legislator Phenyo Butale maintained that Mokaila was to blame for the current power and water crises because they were a result on poor implementation and project monitoring. The debate was sparked by Francistown South MP Wynter Mmolotsi’s response to the State of the Nation Address, during which he challenged government to channel funds meant for the recently announced Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) into resolving the power and water problems. “We had hoped that the much celebrated ESP money would be channeled into the power and water projects to bring stability into the economy. There cannot be any development without these basic essentials,” he argued. “Our industries terribly need power and water supplies. We had hoped the ESP will bring normalcy into the acute situation.”