Africa-Press – Botswana. President Duma Boko has emphasised the need for economic interventions that focus on improving the livelihoods of ordinary Batswana and transforming the fortunes of the country’s poorest communities.
Addressing the Economic Committee of Cabinet in Gaborone recently, Boko underscored the urgency of developing innovative and inclusive economic solutions.
The meeting was attended by cabinet ministers, the Governor of the Bank of Botswana, accounting officers of ministries, and CEOs of state-owned enterprises, among others.
Poverty a human rights issue
Boko said he considers poverty a violation of human rights and presented this as the core motivation behind his economic agenda.
“We have consigned many of our people to subhuman existence,” he said. “In the manner that we have conducted our affairs, we have failed them and must now begin to atone and do our very best to correct.”
He called for a collective national effort to reassess Botswana’s economic challenges and identify a clear path forward. The President stressed the importance of setting strategic goals and concrete timelines to steer the country towards inclusive development.
Frank engagement
He urged the Economic Committee to engage in open and honest discussions about the country’s economic trajectory. “We need to adjust our sails, map out strategies that will take us forward,” he said. “The ways in which we have done things as a country quite clearly have not worked, either at all or as we thought they would.”
Boko emphasised the shared responsibility of leadership in crafting new outcomes and policies. He said people in public office are duty-bound to ensure different results that address the current socio-economic challenges.
Boko also questioned the efficiency of existing institutions and systems, urging that they be re-evaluated to ensure they serve the purpose of economic development.
Strictures of time
“We need to operate within strictures of time,” he said. “This forces us to take a position on how we relate with the habitual settings of our actions, the institutions we have now, the personalities that lead these institutions, ourselves included.”
While change may be difficult, the President stated, it is possible and the country’s institutions must evolve to respond effectively to present-day realities faced by Batswana.
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