Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) have started a policy debate in the party’s Policy Directorate to explore the idea of government buying a portion of the country’s huge public debt.
According to the Leader of Opposition (LOO), also Member of Parliament for Selebi Phikwe West Dithapelo Keorapetse there has to be a deliberate action from government to help citizens who are currently drowning in debt, and are indebted to micro lenders, pawnshops and other financial institutions such as banks.
Keorapetse said according to Household Indebtedness Survey Report of 2020/2021 by Bank of Botswana (BoB), combined with arrears, household debt stood at P59. 2 billion, translating into 30.3 percent of GDP.
To drive his point home, Keorapetse said since President Mokgweetsi Masisi took over in 2018, 2384 Batswana were put in prison for failure to pay debts.
“That is 467 Batswana every year, not to mention 227 Batswana who were put under civil imprisonment for failure to pay their debts since the closure of BCL,” he said.
Keorapetse further noted that UDC proposes tightening of screws by the Finance Ministry, BoB and the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBIFIRA) on predatory lending by taking note of the proliferation of lenders.
He said, there are too many micro lenders for a small population like this one, which NBIFIRA has no capacity to police.
“UDC suggests serious infusion of financial literacy, the possession of the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources, at elementary schools and throughout the learning process up to tertiary,” said Keorapetse
” We need to assist Batswana to reengineer their relationship with money,” he said.
He further said their policy debate explores the possibility of a government entity buying a significant portion of the huge public debt so as to extend some form of relief to Batswana drowning in debt.
“Part of the solution lies in adoption of a living wage policy,” said Keorapetse.
