26 Aug 2019

Umbrella for Democratic Change has reiterated its stance that their proposed P3 000 living wage if voted into power will not collapse the country’s economy.

Speaking at the launch of the party’s parliamentary candidate for Tlokweng Mr Kenneth Segokgo, UDC’s vice president Mr Dumelang Saleshando highlighted that their party promise would instead stimulate the economy of Botswana instead of collapsing it as some feared.

Mr Saleshando stated that UDC was the only party that was confronting unemployment in its manifesto.

“When the living wage is increased, there is more tax paid, which goes directly into government coffers as well as more disposable income for citizens.

This means citizens have more money to spend, which stimulates the economy as the money circulates while more tax for the government translates to more money for developments,” he explained.

He added that when citizens spend more on goods and services from their disposable income, this results in increased Gross Domestic Product from expenditure and cash flow.

“How then can this be bad news for the economy?

What people need are jobs not electric cars,” Mr Saleshando stated.

The party also promises to create employment and stimulate the economy through a construction boom, which will be citizen driven to renovate the country’s infrastructure, including dilapidated schools and roads.

“UDC will contract these jobs to Batswana not the Chinese.

The BDP spent over P10 billion on Ipelegeng in the last 10 years and they have very little to show for it, those are some of the funds we will use for our proposals,” Mr Saleshando said, addressing concerns raised that their promises were far-fetched and unfeasible.

For his part, Mr Segokgo highlighted that creation of 100 000 jobs in the first 12 months if the party is voted into power was attainable.

“Just by cutting back teacher to student ratio and implementing some of our proposed solutions to the education sector, the number of employees jumps from 26 000 to about 78 000,” he highlighted.

Mr Kenneth Segokgo assumed the parliamentary seat in 2017 following the death of Ms Same Bathobakae. ENDS