15 Jun 2014

The project to establish a police station in Mmadinare has been halted due to shortage of funds, says President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

Instead, President Khama, said government would consider constructing at least five houses for police officers and increase the number of law enforcement officers in the village.

President Khama was responding to Kgosi Phokontsi Seeletso’s enquiry during a kgotla meeting at the village on June 12. He has asked whether government would establish a police station as planned to curb the escalating crime and youth delinquency in the village.

He noted that Mmadinare had developed over the years and the population had grown, thus more police officers should be stationed at the village. 

Regarding converting Mmadinare into a sub-district, President Khama said the objective was still at hand and funds to set up sub-district infrastructure and to avail staff had not been availed yet.

However, he said the issue was not about infrastructure but services to be rendered. He said arrangements should be made for people to get services at Selebi Phikwe rather than Bobonong, which was costly.

If there was office space in the village, he said some government departments could set up to assist and provide services to the residents. President Khama further applauded Batswana who contributed to the Presidential Housing Appeal initiative. 

Through the initiative, he said they intended to build 400 houses a year to house the less privileged. So far, he noted that 382 houses had been constructed while 20 were still in the process of being built and about 50 houses had been pledged. 

He commended Save Rite Supermarket in Mmadinare for contributing towards the initiative after they handed over a cheque of P10 000. 

He also acknowledged that Save Rite Supermarket for pledging to take care of two orphaned children by providing them grocery worth P400 every month until they reach 21 years.

Meanwhile, Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe who is also MP for Mmadinare said he was happy that many people engaged in agriculture had reaped good rewards. 

He explained that recently he attended a farm walk event at Mmatau fields near Mmadinare and was impressed with what field crop farmers produced.  He said their produce indicated that farmers in the area took good care of their fields and produce.

Dr Kedikilwe further noted that Botswana was developing well and keeping up with developments and changes in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) world. He said Botswana was on track in ICT and change from analogue to digital.

He also told attendants at the kgotla meeting that government in collaboration with the Japanese would in the near future set up a sulphuric acid plant in Selebi Phikwe where sulphur smoke from the BCL Mine smelter would be converted into sulphuric acid. 

He said the project would cost roughly $290 million USD (about P2.6 billion).

Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Peter Siele explained that government has planned to establish 19 sub districts around the country including Mmadinare sub district under the National Development Plan (NDP) 10.

However, he noted that the project to set up sub districts was shelved due to financial challenges following the world economic meltdown. 

Mr Siele pointed out that Ipelegeng development programme was introduced to assist Batswana during times of drought. 

He said more people at places that were the most hit by drought such as Bobirwa and Ngami regions were also engaged in the programme. 

So far, he said 1 422 people had benefitted in the program in Bobrwa sub district.

For his part, Minister of Health, Dr John Seakgosing pointed out that some hospitals like Mmadinare Hospital need to be refurbished because they were old and could not handle the population capacity. 

Dr Seakgoising said Mmadinare Hospital was facing sewerage spillage problem which remains a health hazard to residents. 

He said government had planned to construct a new sewerage facility in the village and the current one would be utilised by the hospital.

Also, he noted that government was the process of refurbishing hospitals around the country.

The Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi urged farmers to take care of the livestock and herd them so that they would not go astray and cross the border into neighbouring country. 

Mr Molebatsi also called on field crop farmers to utilise ploughing and planting methods prescribed by agriculture officers to reap good rewards. ENDS