Parliament comes to students’ rescue
BDF soldiers in peace keeping mission in Mozambique will not starve
Parliament has approved the sum of P1 164 450 710 in supplementary budget requested by the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology.
The request was tabled by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Peggy Serame on Tuesday.
Of this amount P401 880 700 is required to cater for new students who meet the admission requirements, while the balance of P762 570 000 is required to restore the amount originally approved for tuition fees and allowances, which the Ministry used to pay outstanding invoices from tertiary service providers for financial year 2020/2021.
Serame said the funding gap under the Tertiary Education Financing partly occurred as a result of the increase in the number of students awarded sponsorship during the 2019/2020 financial year.
“This created a backlog of payments to tertiary education institutions, which was carried over to the current financial year,” she said, adding, the budgetary shortfall was compounded by some additional costs arising from the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This development puts to rest students’ fears whether they will continue with their tertiary studies.
BDF
In yet another pleasing move, the legislators agreed to release money to fend for BDF troops deployed in a peacekeeping mission in Mozambique.
Serame told parliament that the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security requires additional funding of P204.5 million under the Botswana Defence Force to cover the costs of deploying and sustaining troops in Mozambique.
Of this amount, P70.4 million is requested under Part I, as Botswana’s contribution to the SADC Secretariat to finance the SADC Standby Force Deployment in Mozambique, while the remaining P134.1 million is requested under Part II of the Financial Paper.
The SADC mission is mandated to support Mozambique Armed Defence Forces to combat acts of terrorism and violent extremism in Cabo Delgado Province, in Mozambique.