Africa-Press – Botswana. Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mbuse Pule has urged families to persuade their relatives in the public transportation sector to call off the strike action.
Pule said the strike which began early Tuesday morning this week has affected the livelihoods of dozens of families across the country.
Public transporters went on a national strike this week, demanding that the government should either decrease the fuel prices or increase the transportation fees.
The assistant minister made the plea during the commemoration of the international day of families which was held at Francistown old stadium. Pule said the strike was was reasonable and therefore called on Francistowners who graced the occasion to speak to their relatives who are part of the public transport community to end the action.
“Please talk to your relatives who are public transporters and reason with them as families so that they stop the strike because this situation is beyond the government’s control,” he added.
According to the assistant minister, families have to provide emotional care and seek for psycho social support in order to deal with the economic crisis.
He disclosed that the government has come up with a delegation of experts in order to come up with strategies which can address the situation at hand. For now, Pule implored families to explore other means for them to secure food during this critical era.
“This is the time we need to start producing food for ourselves to prepare ourselves because the worst is still yet to come,” he said.
Pule further explained that the war between Russia and Ukraine has contributed to the situation and affected the general cost of living.
He stated that the country is currently feeling the economic pain through the rise of petroleum products as crude oil is Russia’s biggest export whereas Ukraine is one of the main world exporters of grains as well as vegetable oils.
For that reason, he said the war between the two countries has negatively exportation of their products. In addition, Pule said due to shortage of petroleum and grains, the distributors have hiked prices including petrol and diesel.
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