Botswana’s opposition parties have said that President Ian Khama’s State of the Nation’s address delivered on Monday has nothing new for Batswana and is, instead, a duplication of his previous statements made ever since he took office in 2008.
Reacting to the speech, the Botswana National Front (BNF) says that the speech is a clear demonstration that the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has failed.
In an interview with The Telegraph, the BNF’s publicity secretary, Moeti Mohwasa, said that the President’s address was not class neutral and had shown an inclination towards business.
“There is nothing in the interest of the workers…in as much as we appreciate the role, we have to show some interest for workers and the labour movement as they are in charge of the delivery within the public sector, which the President says has improved,” said Mohwasa.
He said that government is cutting costs and breeding poverty through programmes such as Ipelegeng, cluster policing and special constables who are not well remunerated despite doing full time police duties.
“The structure of our economy is breeding poverty…everyday programs, such as privatization, continue to push people towards poverty.
Mohwasa also said that it was also surprising that Khama would condemn the violent clashes in Syria yet turn a blind eye to the human rights violations in neighbouring Swaziland.
The same sentiments were expressed by Botswana Movement For Democracy (BMD)’s Gomolemo Motswaledi.
While applauding Khama for a better coordinated speech, Motswaledi said that there was nothing new and, more regrettably, it was packed with too many unnecessary details.
He also complained that there was no proper explanation regarding costs in the construction industry.
The BMD leader also opined that there were so many contradictions, especially regarding job creations. He said while government claimed to have created about 4000 jobs through such schemes as Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), ironically, the President was not forthcoming about the job losses as a result of CEDA’s repossession of businesses that had failed to settle their loans.
He said that some CEDA-funded projects had collapsed and yet Khama had failed to state how many jobs had been lost.
Motswaledi said that, most disturbingly, Botswana was turning into a fascist state in that it was deporting foreigners without allowing the rule of law to prevail for any of those accused of wrongdoing.
He warned that rushing to kick out foreigners could in the long term frustrate Botswana’s efforts to turn itself into an innovation hub.
“We live in an internationalized society…and being more open can assist us in prosperity.”
Meanwhile, the Botswana Congress Party general secretary, Kesitegile Gobotswang, has said that the speech is the most evasive speech ever delivered.
He stated that Khama failed to adequately address the burning issues.
“One would have expected the President to adequately address the corruption within parastatals,” he said.
According to Gobotswang, the President missed out on an opportunity to inform the nation on what his government is doing to address the land and squatting problems.
“What you are noticing from the speech is that government is trying to address unemployment through piece meal programmes,” said Gobotswang.
