27 Feb 2013

Parliament has approved Ministry of Finance and Development Planning budget totalling over P891 million. The amount comprises recurrent and development budgets of over P718 million and P172 million respectively.

Presenting the budget proposals, the Assistant Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Vincent Seretse said the total budget for the financial year 2013/14 represented a decrease of over P220 million compared to the total revised budget for the 2012/13 financial year.

Debating the budget proposals before approval, Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone thanked finance and development planning minister, Mr Kenneth Matambo for democratising the budget process by involving stakeholders. Mr Arone said consulting people enabled them to take ownership of the budget and relate to it.

However, he argued that a closer look into the budget did not reflect a clear commitment on how rural development should be approached. He also argued that the government should prioritise i the allocation of resources and attend to challenges such as shortage of water and maintenance of government facilities in rural areas.

Furthermore, he asked Mr Matambo not to be concerned about the allocated money, but the impact and the return on investment. “I am very worried that we pump a lot of money on projects, but at the end of the day the impact is very low,” he said. He also wanted to know to what extent the finance ministry advised the government on projects to undertake.

The MP for South East South, Mr Odirile Motlhale also supported the finance ministry’s budget. Mr Motlhale, however, suggested that the government should speedily implemented the e-government strategy, saying it would go a long way in ensuring that some payments were done speedily.

That, he said, was because collection of tax formed part of the revenue streams for the finance ministry, hence there was no way they could collect tax if there were no payments made. On devolving powers of adjudication and award of public tenders to procuring entities, Mr Motlhale said he had expected the minister to allay fears of corruption and outline measures in place that would prevent corruption.

Molepolole South MP, Mr Daniel Kwelagobe was worried about implementation of laws, policies and motions passed by Parliament. Mr Kwelagobe wanted the minister to state progress on the privatisation policy and how many jobs it had created for Batswana.

Kgatleng East MP, Mr Isaac Mabiletsa commended the minister for the aim to install point of sale facilities in all revenue offices to improve revenue collection. The MP for Maun West, Mr Tawana Moremi was concerned about devolving powers to procuring entities, saying it could breed corruption. He, however, commended the minister for the agriculture credit scheme which he argued must benefit all farmers in the country. Tswapong South MP, who is also Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi was concerned about congestion at the Martin’s Drift Border Post which he argued was the busiest in the country.

However, he commended the ministry for the roll out of the electronic funds transfer facility to revenue offices across the country which is expected to facilitate and expedite the payment process. Mr Mephato Reatile of Ngwaketse West expressed concern about the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA), arguing that there was no progress from insurance companies in paying Batswana their dues.

Consequently, Parliament heard that currently, NBFIRA has been dealing with the process of reviewing the Insurance Industry Act which has recently been completed and is currently at a draft bill stage.  The legislation, the assistant minister had said, is anticipated to be brought before Parliament in the financial year 2013/2014.

Also, Parliament was told that in implementing the goals of the National Development   Plan, NBFIRA was also in the process of introducing a risk-based supervisory régime designed to ensure that the multiple financial risks encountered in each of the regulated sectors are adequately addressed. 

The risks relating to the contractual savings of Batswana and prudent risk-based supervision of pension funds were deemed of particular importance. Kgatleng West MP, Mr Gilbert Mangole commended the ministry for Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF) which he said was doing a good job in providing services to beneficiaries. The fund continues to place high emphasis on public education as a strategy to encourage road users to adopt good road usage behaviour, he said. ENDS