Politicians From Botswana

"We want youth to be engaged in these processes as the primary beneficiaries and the future generation of our society"

"It is imperative for the community to be engaged in planning their own community projects"

"My priority is to serve the people and continue pushing for the values we stand for"

"This matter is not about capacity or trust"

"Our government structure is based on teamwork and institutional governance"

"Transparency and accountability are principles I have always upheld in public service"

"Every administrative action in government must be recorded and justified"

"There is no room for informal or personal directives in matters of public procurement"

"I have never directed any official to stop adjudication or alter a tender process"

"The Government currently faces budget constraints, and we must make sure that both public and donor funds are used effectively"

"My responsibility of to provide policy guidance, not to participate in operational decisions."

"We are changing the culture of public service"

"Every ministry, every program, every thebe must be tracked and accounted for."

"Implementation has been a weak point in the past, and we cannot repeat that mistake"

"Through this development goals, we are turning political promises into actual policies,"

"Unemployment is the most urgent issue before us at 27.6% overall and 38.2% amongst the youth. It demands immediate bold action"

"We need to enable and unlock opportunities"

"We need disciplined, consistent and exemplary leaders of labour movement, leaders who stand for truth, leaders who stand for workers"

"It is not right for the President to be reading SONA to people and leave it to MPs to discuss without listening to them. Even those who try to defend him at times will make mistakes because he understands what he was saying better than us. This will be for the good; let’s not think of the bad only."

"This whole council will have 98 employees and they will be covering all the sectors of the creative industry."

"That is why we created the Arts Council because we want to better the creative sector to hire masses."

"We have also changed the President’s Day Competitions into the National Arts Festival and staged a fashion show in Francistown to better the creative sector."

"The 2020 Dubai Expo and the Forbes Under 30 Summit helped our youths to gain exposure and those who participated will help grow the sector and employment will be created."

"We introduced the National Arts Council of Botswana that will hire its CEO soon (and) already have a Director of Research, creative strategy, a Director of Legal Affairs and a Director of Corporate Affairs. The Arts Council will be used as a platform to better the creative industry as it is going to promote and regulate the sector."

"Programmes are ongoing to help the creative sector."

"We cannot allow courts to decide who should be the rightful heirs of Bogosi. This is contrary to our culture and undermines the essence of our diverse customs"

"development must involve the very people that need development"

"Africa as a continent must decolonise the government system and economic system"

"it takes a long time to train revolutionaries, not less than two years"

"We must devise African solutions to African problems"

"We want life to make sense at the village level"

"What the country now demands, is a radical shift, not in policy theory alone, but in practical, structural, and people-centred transformation"

"It's like a herd boy from the cattle post who wishes to marry a white girl, it can never happen"

"If you are a strong leader, you participate in the contestation of ideas, you don't run away."

"We have a duty to deliver on the statutory mandate clearly crafted for us"

"Why create a mess and want to reset it?"

"Let us take the spear to defend the workers course, those who defy the interests of workers must be defied"

"If you've been somewhere for too long, you become complacent and take things for granted"

"I didn’t enjoy politics, the rough and tumble of political life"

"Maybe what we have achieved through diamond revenues has made us complacent. But we have to remember, that diamonds are not forever."

"Also, there is a dependency syndrome on government since we were once so poor and have done a lot through social interventions. Today many people probably get assistance who should be looking after themselves – this is a trend. The question they have always is “What is government going to do for me?"

"Always starting from a bad situation you can make good"

"Unlike some who twist the concept of democracy to suit themselves, we have stuck to these principles in that everything we do should be in the interest of our citizens"

"I am not sick, stressed or depressed. In fact, I recently had my annual medical check and all was good. The only thing that depresses me is when people who don’t know me say I am depressed"

"Ban the import of hunting trophies"

"We thought it would be a quantitative change, where the opposition wins but not to this extent. This was a dramatic turn of events."

"The country's economy has been rundown, and people expect the party's manifesto to be applied immediately, but it doesn't work like that."

"I don’t think anyone should be President for that amount of time. We are Presidents, we are not monarchs. It’s just common sense"

"Of the total P67.5 billion expenditure planned for the 2019/2020 financial year, P22.4 billion, or one-third is for paying salaries and allowances for those employed in the public service, while the balance of P45.1 billion or 66 percent will be available for government procurement of goods and services from the private sector. This is a significant amount availed by government to spur growth of the economy, and create employment opportunities."

"When I left office, I intended to completely leave politics but here I'm now more involved in politics than even when I was president because I'm determined to make sure this man (Masisi) goes"