The ‘Khama Plan’ won’t leave out any Motswana

The newly introduced Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) has aroused mixed reactions across various sectors regarding its importance for the economy of this country.

President Ian Khama unveiled the ambitious programme at the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Special Congress last week Saturday in Gaborone as the remedy for job creation, economy stimulation and economic diversification. Khama told the delegates that this is the right time to start new projects on top of others because the economy has improved. Areas of focus will be building construction, roads construction, tourism development, increased agricultural production and manufacturing. He said the country will also tap on its foreign reserves, which are currently estimated at around P87.8 billion.

“In 2008 we managed to fight recession and emerged successful to sustain our economy while other countries failed. If we cut projects now, the economy will stagnate. We have now built up sufficient reserves. The time has come now when we have problems to use our reserves. We have to be bold and take bold decisions. We however are not going to be reckless, we will be prudent”, he stated. He said diamond sales and their prices were very pleasing. The president explained that for the past six years there have been talks about recession. “We couldn’t continue spending money as if our reserves will last forever. So this year after the 2014 general election I together with my cabinet started working on the ESP. The economy has been fattened a little bit so we are Ok.”
Unpacking the ESP Khama said building construction is an engine of growth for many economies the world over.

The focus he said would not be building big projects. “We will be spreading construction projects around the country. There will be construction in every district”, he said adding that Batswana construction companies will benefit in the building of classrooms and teachers’ quarters as well as clinics upgrading and nurses’ quarters. Khama said there will be additional funds for maintenance, because “We do not want to just build and not maintain old buildings. There will be major construction in all corners of the country. This will boost the construction industry in the country.” As for roads construction, he said: “We will however not be constructing long stretching roads but rather alternative roads with the aim of reducing construction.” Under tourism the president said the aim is to broaden the tourism base.

He said those include wildlife management areas, dam tourism and communities forming trusts to undertake tourism in their areas. He revealed that the Ministry of Environment Wildlife and Tourism will be equipped to roll out the initiative around the country with emphasis on improving domestic tourism. On increasing agricultural production, Khama said there will be additional projects to improve and accelerate food production, horticulture projects and markets, and beef beneficiation. He said local produce will be bought from small farmers and commercial ones. He said this will also open doors for possible export. The president said government institutions like schools, prisons, police and Botswana Defence Force spend almost P800 million on feeding schemes. He emphasised that government will put in place technology to use limited water the country has, by recycling used water. On manufacturing Khama said the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) would be emphasised.

“There will be a unit to monitor implementation of EDD of about 35 people. Uniforms for all government institutions and even the private sector will have to be bought here. The manufacturing industry will also be empowered so that there is potential for exporting,” said Khama. He said there will be accelerated land servicing by the Lands and Housing ministry. Under this, Khama said more money will be availed for close to 37 000 plots to be serviced. “There are residential, industrial and commercial plots that will be serviced. If we have commercial and industrial plots Batswana will start businesses and employ others. There will be more industries and business that will boost our economy,” he said adding that these past months the cabinet has been working on this programme. “We are left with final touches that we will finish in the few coming weeks,” Khama told the congress.

“We see that this year commodities’ prices all over the world have gone down again including diamonds. Economy this year was projected to grow at 4.5 percent but because of poor performance of diamond sales and other commodities in the market we are now projecting a growth of 2.6 percent. Projected surplus was around P1.2billon. Now we are projecting a deficit of over P4 billion and next year another deficit is projected. We also have water and power problems. We are looking for money to arrest water and power situation not forgetting drought.”