09 Nov 2014

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has promised that he will strive to develop this country during the last lap of his rule.

Speaking at the High Level Consultative Council (HLCC) on November 6, President Khama said, “I am totally focused and for the remaining years ke tsile go taboga more than I had before,” the President said. 

For his part, the president of Botswana Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM) Mr Lekwalo Mosienyane said there was a need for the private sector to be further developed saying the country’s competitiveness had declined as reported recently by the World Bank.

Mr Mosienyane said this was the opportune time to make private sector development a national priority. “A developed private sector produced growth and inevitably, job creation,” he said. The private sector, he added, should be looked into as a source for sustainable employment and economic growth.

Mr Mosienyane also called upon the government to develop a private sector led economy, saying however they had seen expansion of government in the formation of new state owned companies such as the Okavango Diamond Company, Mineral Investment Company and the National Oil Company.

“We are now seeing Local Authorities also setting up companies and wonder about their impartiality in adjudicating tenders from these,” he said. He said BOCCIM continued to advocate for a process of scaling down service provision by government and allowing the private sector to grow, and not the other way around.

Mr Mosienyane said most of the skills and resources that were in government could be put to optimal use in the hands of the private sector.

The BOCCIM president said the private sector has considered the government’s call for the provision of a social housing scheme and the banking sector was willing to participate and has forwarded their proposals.

He said the Ministry of Lands and Housing was still considering the offer from the private sector and trust that a policy would be developed soon. The real estate sector has also engaged government and offered proposals on the private sector participation in land servicing which the government was considering.

Mr Mosienyane said BOCCIM members continue to decry the shortage of skills in some sectors of the economy. As a result, an uncertainty has been created by the rejection of work permits. Talking about skills development, he said the private sector continues to contribute to the training levy.

“However, the slow rate of utilisation of these funds worries the private sector. Our members continue to cite the onerous and inflexible procedures as a reason for the low uptake of the training levy,” he said.

He called for an urgent removable of red tape in the governance of the utilisation of the training levy. “We need to review procedures for the claiming from the levy and widen options for training Batswana,” he said. Mr Mosienyane said the business community was worried by the uncertainty of water and energy supply in the country. ENDS