[Botswana] Anti-Poverty Measures Worry Experts

from All Africa

Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)

Tuduetso Setsiba

Professor Happy Siphambe of the University of Botswana (UB) Economics Department has warned that poverty would still exist in Botswana by 2016 if certain things are not done. Speaking at the breakfast meeting that marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty yesterday, the UB don called on the government to come up with policies that will protect the poor from exploitation.

Botswana has set a number of targets, among them poverty eradication, to be achieved in 2016 but the UB don has serious reservations about whether this will be possible. "If we continue to do things the way we do, we would not achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves. If we do, it would be after the time that we have set," said Siphambe.

He asserted that empowerment programmes should be established so that people could benefit fully from the schemes that the government has set up. He explained that government schemes like Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) would not benefit the people if government does not know what they want to achieve with the scheme.

He said that contradictory government policies should be done away with like the re-introduction of school fees. He said the fees contradicted government's promise to empower children through provision of education. He called on government to channel resources to areas that have high incidents of poverty.

Dr Tebogo Seleka from the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) said increasing inequality between the poor and the rich have accompanied high economic growth in Botswana. He said that economic growth has benefited the non-poor and that people in rural areas bore the brunt of poverty compared to urban dwellers. He revealed that studies have indicated that individuals residing in female-headed households are more likely to be poor and poverty is usually high among children. "This is because poor households often have more children," he said.

Seleka questioned whether the government rations' scheme is sustainable although malnutrition is on the decline. He expressed fear that the situation might reverse once the government feeding programmes stop.

He feels that diversification into other sectors has been slow despite the substantial government outlays in programmes such as FAP, CEDA, ARAP. He said the programmes have not made a significant mark at the national level despite the massive amounts of money pumped into them. The slow creation of jobs has resulted in high unemployment among the youth. Statistics indicate that in 2001, the unemployment rate among the youth was 41 percent compared to the overall unemployment rate of 19 percent. "While efforts have been made to assist the youth invest in agricultural projects, there is need to deal with the issues of access to suitable resources for agriculture such as land," Seleka said.

To address the problem, he suggested that focus should be placed on developing vibrant Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) to reach the poor. He said restrictions in the informal sector should be reduced, as it is the area with many poor people. He said inequalities on asset ownership should be addressed and that the poor should be represented in policy making and performance monitoring.

The institutional and social barriers such as discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion and social status has to be removed, he said.

According to Vision 2016, by the year 2016, Botswana will be a compassionate and caring nation.

Income will be distributed equitably. Poverty will have been eradicated and there will be an efficient social safety net for those who suffer misfortune.