02 Feb 2025

 The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC)-led government promises to build a diverse and resilient economy.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Majwanaadipitse on Friday, Serowe North MP, Mr Baratiwa Mathoothe  said over reliance on diamonds was not good for the economy hence the need for vibrant manufacturing and services sectors for the economy to be resilient.

Mr Mathoothe, who is also Assistant Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship,  also called for prudent management practices to ensure cost containment, cost recovery, cost cutting and sharing and wastage minimisation.

He said a lot of government revenue was lost due to lack of prudent financial and resource management by the previous administration adding that it was important to guard against corrupt practices in tendering processes in the interest of protecting government coffers.

By so doing he said, money saved could go toward developments since there were many competing needs.

Moreover, Mr Mathoothe said ensuring good craftsmanship for infrastructure development would save government money.

He also underscored the need to strengthen revenue collection strategies and review spending patterns, to save the country from falling into financial difficulties.

Mr Mathoothe said a forensic audit would be conducted to recover money from those proven to have benefited through corrupt means.

He is also of the view that breaking silos within government departments and ministries would improve operations since they all had a common mandate to improve the standard and quality of Batswana.

Mr Mathoothe encouraged Batswana to utilise land allocated to them and inject money into the economy.

He warned those posing as farmers in order to benefit from agricultural programmes to desist from such practices because doing so frustrated government’s efforts to improve agriculture.

He also shunned fronting in all its manifestation and said those found out, stern measures would be taken against them. ENDS