His Excellency, President Seretse Khama Ian Khama has stressed the importance of his and Cabinet addresses and interaction with Local Authorities. He cited that this interaction provides a platform for exchange of ideas and discussion of key issues between the national leadership and them when addressing the Ghanzi District Council.
“These interactions with Councils will continue because my government recognizes the important role of Local Authorities in this country as a cornerstone of our democratic system of governance and a critical interface between Central Government and Batswana”, said His Excellency.
He also said that it is important that users of Council services should contribute to the cost of providing such services as funds will be inadequate for investment in infrastructure provision and upgrading, extension and service provision. This is in view of current state of our economy in terms of its revenues and spending priorities.
Furthermore he challenged the Council to step revenue collection efforts to complement grants from government and explore various alternatives for cost saving and cost recovery to ensure sustainability of service provision to Batswana. Therefore Councils should seriously consider privatization of some non-core functions such as cleaning, security, refuse collection and gardening services.
“This will enable you to concentrate more on programme and policy planning, implementation and management, and further serve to stimulate private sector investment in the provision of goods and services traditionally provided by government agencies. This will not only enhance efficiency, but will also generate sustainable rural employment and alleviate poverty” he emphasized.
On sustainable rural livelihoods, he said that this must be based on the economic realities of the rural situation. “We therefore need to recognize the varying potentials of the different districts and focus on issues of comparative advantage and market access. There is a lot of potential in areas such as the livestock subsector, cultural villages, game viewing and the hospitality industry just to mention the key ones. These are some of the economic activities that Gantsi District can leverage on using government assistance programmes”, he advised.
In conclusion, he indicated that as government, their allegiance and commitment must be anchored on people’s aspirations, concerns and needs. As a key service provider in the district, they can only be justified by the quality of service they offer to the district community and the impact of their strategies and interventions on the lives of Batswana.