Africa-Press – Botswana. Respect for the rule of law and engaging in consultation during the decision-making processes is described as the hallmark of the country’s deep-rooted democracy.
Responding to State-Of-the-Nation Address on November 21, Good Hope/Mabule Member of Parliament, Mr Eric Molale said the success of the country was attributed to among others respect for the rule of law, which enhanced democracy.
“This is my last response to SONA. I have spent 23 years in public service crafting SONA speeches and another two years as Cabinet under Secretary and Coordinator of SONA speeches. I stand here with pride having fully contributed to the development of this country,” he said.
Over the years serving as a public officer, Mr Molale said he had learnt that development was a journey and commended all those who had helped him in his endeavours.
Except for the founding President, the late Sir Seretse Khama, Mr Molale has served under the four Presidents.
“I take it with pride that of the five Presidents, I have worked closely with four and made what I believe to be my greatest contribution towards building this nation. I look back with nostalgia because having worked with Presidents is memorable more so that I was on many occasions given special assignments,” he said.
Mr Molale recalled the 1996 events, when farmers in the Ngami area were almost left empty-handed due to the cattle lung disease that wiped out their cattle and said the then President, the late Sir Ketumile Masire had tasked him to lead the team that worked at eradicating CBPP, followed by the restocking of cattle in the area.
However, Mr Molale said even though the project was successfully executed, he was concerned that the same cattle that were brought into the area were almost wiped out by the recent outbreak of ticks.
Under President Dr Festus Mogae, Minister Molale served as Permanent Secretary to the President.
Under President Lt Gen Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Mr Molale appreciated how he made him understand that it was important for all people to be taken equally and that it was critical to give attention to marginalised members of the society.
He said the current President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi had been resolute in decision making, doing it without fear or favour, exhibiting boldness and love for the country by breaking barriers and doing things that were never done before.
“He was even bold enough to consider reviewing the Constitution of the country. I am thankful to President Masisi for driving the nation,” he said.
He said all four Presidents had their unique areas of strength through which they managed to maintain the country’s value system of democracy through the rule of law and consultation.
Mr Molale said the development process was a critical component of nation building.
He, therefore, hailed Parliament for being the arbiter of resource allocation after consultation with the people and all other concerned stakeholders. On that regard, he said it was important for Members of Parliament to fully understand their role and focus on improving the allocation of resources.
In relation to his constituency, Mr Molale was pleased to have delivered his mandate as promised in 2019.He said he was happy that Good Hope has been upgraded to a full-fledged district adding that at the time he came into office, connection to the national power grid was at 22 per cent and had since improved to 99 per cent.
Mr Molale also urged government to fully diversify the power supply with the use of solar energy and methane gas to generate more power.
He also talked about the upgrading of water supply and distribution in the constituency. Mr Molale said 33 villages in Morolong would benefit from the ongoing water reticulation and improvement projects.
He added that the project must consider providing water to production areas such as Mosisedi farms and Kanngwe clusters.
Mr Molale was also happy that his constituency would also benefit from the improvement of road networks across the country as well as improved telecommunications reception and connectivity.
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