LOBAMBA – Prime Minister Cleopas Sipho Dlamini says government is committed to facilitating the creation of more employment opportunities for the youth while guiding them to fully utilise the funds availed by Government to assist emaSwati entrepreneurs who want to venture into business.
He said these include the Youth Enterprise Revolving Fund, the Regional Development Fund, Small Scale Loan Guarantee Scheme, Export Credit Guarantee Scheme, the MSME Revolving Fund, the Informal Traders Fund and others.
“We shall put more focus on infrastructure rehabilitation, education, access to health services, agriculture and ICT as these are some of the key components of the Strategic Roadmap 2019-2022. This is over and above investment facilitation and job creation. Cabinet has assured me of their commitment to run this race with speed and precision in order to change the quality of life for emaSwati. All our efforts will be fruitless if COVID-19 continues to run rampage on our people and affect lives and livelihoods. We have regrettably witnessed a sharp increase in the number of deaths and infections over the past weeks due to this vicious virus. The Ministry of Health is working day and night to save lives and to ensure that all testing and treatment services are available for all that need them. This is despite the unfortunate losses suffered by the health sector during the riots where some health facilities, including testing and vaccination sites were torched and ambulances attacked and destroyed,” he said.
He continued: “Mr Speaker, we pass our gratitude to all our partners and friends who have made contributions to our fight in combating COVID-19. One of the most effective ways to mitigate the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is to ensure that more vaccines are accessed by emaSwati. Just yesterday, the Kingdom received over 300 000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine donated by the Government of the United States through the COVAX facility.
Our target is to make sure that a vast majority of the country’s adult population and frontline workers are vaccinated by the end of August,” he said.
The PM explained that the education sector has been severely affected by this pandemic for over a year now.
“Mr Speaker, I will soon be making an announcement on the opening of schools. In the meantime, the Ministry of Health will be working in collaboration with the education sector to start vaccinating teachers and education workers next week,” he said.
“As I conclude, Mr Speaker, I wish to reiterate our commitment to the ideals of sustainable peace and stability which are the foundation from which we can reconstruct and transform our economy and lives of all emaSwati. We are united in creating an Eswatini we want for all of us and future generations. Nothing and no one should divide us. I pledge to work closely with Parliament to advance the lofty goals of this nation,” he said.
