Butale hits below the belt at 2nd Job Summit

Failure to implement government plans and projects is costing the economy, Investment, Trade and Industry Assistant Minister Biggie Butale lamented during the official opening of the 2nd annual Botswana Job summit held in Gaborone.

Butale said although the government has demonstrated willingness ‘to get things done’, there has been challenges with getting projects completed on time and within the set budget. “This has not only cost our country money, but also jobs. If we get implementation of our plans and projects right, I am confident that a giant leap towards job creation and even more prosperity for our people would have been made,” said Butale. 

He said while it is true that globally countries are struggling to create enough jobs for their people, this does not mean people should rest on their laurels. Butale said unemployment rates that are at double figures are socially unsustainable and not healthy for the growth of any economy. “We can reduce unemployment if we as a government hold job creation as one of our most important performance indicators between now and 2019,” he said. The assistant minister said for an economy to grow, consumers need disposable income to spend.

“Without such income, the economy contracts. Even more painful, those that are unemployed are unable to support themselves and their families. Even more, the country suffers an opportunity cost in that it is not benefitting from the skills and industry of some of its citizens in whose development it has invested,” he said. Butale said unemployed people are not only unable to provide for their families but are also not making the contribution to the growth of their country.

He said the future job opportunities lie in the private sector rather than in government and implored the private sector to continue with their efforts to help the country create jobs. “The public sector will support you but let us note that our government aims at opening up the economy to more private sector participation. The future economy will be private sector led, hence the importance of this sector in taking a major claim in providing solutions to our challenges,” he said.

Events and conference director, One Source Consulting Dr Mpho Pheko, also echoed the same sentiments acknowledging that unemployment remains a challenge in the country. She said during the first summit last year, they collectively came-up with recommendations for creating jobs in the short term. “The summit also emphasised the existence of sound policies, strategies and programmes in Botswana all designed to either eradicate abject poverty, empower the citizen economically, grow the private sector and small, micro and medium enterprises, diversify the economy or to grow and create jobs,” she said.

“Post the 2015 summit we spent 12 months working with various stakeholders who were identified as implementing entities. We also worked to draw the stakeholders’ attention to several important issues the summit raised regarding job creation, job growth and job sustainability,” she said. However, Dr Pheko said they still have a long way to go to implement those recommendations. The conference was held under the theme: Maximising job creation effective policy and strategy implementation, and was organised by One Source Consulting in partnership with the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) and various sponsors.