15 May 2014

A reading room will be built at Marapong Primary School in the Central District through the Ipelegeng programme, the MP for Tonota North, Mr Fidelis Molao said on May 12.

Addressing kgotla meetings at Marapong and Semitwe in his constituency, Mr Molao said Marapong had been allocated P586 440 for Ipelegeng projects. The Ipelegeng project in Semitwe would be the completion of a holding cell.

Mr Molao said each constituency was allocated 263 participants to be shared among villages in the Botswana National Service Programme (BNSP), also known as Tirelo Setshaba

He encouraged the youth who applied but were not enrolled to try other government empowerment programmes such as the Youth Development Fund (YDF). He said construction of a police station in Marapong was one of the projects that were suspended because of the recession-related financial difficulties.

However, the number of police officers for Marapong, Makobo and Jamataka increased to 17; and the three villages shared a vehicle to facilitate police work.

He added that 24 teachers’ houses would be built at John Nswazwi Junior Secondary School in Marapong during the 2014/15 financial year to address the problem of shortage of accommodation.

A Marapong resident, Mr Bawilili Daniel, raised concern about some government departments that failed to spend allocated funds, saying it was an indication that some officers were sleeping on the job and in the process denying the nation services.

Mr Daniel called for the decentralization of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board services from Gaborone to other parts of the country.

Mr Thomas Banga complained about the delay of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks  in attending to reports. He explained that some elephants previously destroyed crops but the officers only came when there were no traces and evidence anymore.

Mr Banga also complained about some people who used the Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development to plough and neglected their crops to enroll in the Ipelegeng programme. He suggested that such people should be denied the ISPAAD benefit in future.

In Semitwe, Kgosi Batisani Joseph decried the destruction that birds caused to their crops, lamenting that though a good number of residents ploughed, there was little harvest due to the birds. ENDS