01 Mar 2015

The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning has accused the private media of misleading Batswana by alleging that government has decided to cut the national budget by one per cent after it was passed by Parliament.

“There is absolutely no truth in the reports that Cabinet or the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Kenneth Matambo has made a decision to cut the budget by one per cent after it was approved by Parliament or officially presented to Parliament,” the ministry says in a media statement.

The allegations were contained in news articles headlined: “Botswana faces legislative crisis following Cabinet budget goof” by Sunday Standard Newspaper of 22-28 February 2015, and “Matambo faces MPs on bungle” in the Mmegi Newspaper of 24^th February 2015.

They were followed by a parliamentary question by Dr Penyo Butale, MP (Gaborone Central). “The allegations contained in the articles are not only intended to cast aspersions on the integrity of the government in general, and the ministry in particular, but are also meant to misled the public.” 

The statement said as Mr Matambo indicated in his statement to Parliament on February 24, neither “he nor Cabinet directed that there should be a cut on the 2015/16 budget by one per cent after it was approved by Parliament or officially presented to Parliament. 

“No alterations or changes were made either to the Draft Estimates of Expenditure from the Consolidated and Development Funds or the Appropriation (2015/2016) Bill, No. 1 of 2015 following their submission to Parliament.

With regard to the savingram by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development addressed to town clerks and council secretaries, a meeting was convened by Parliament Speaker and attended by concerned parties, including Mr Butale to discuss the matter. 

In that meeting, the permanent secretary explained that his savingram was an internal communication in which he was advising town clerks and council secretaries of decisions that had been taken by the government during the process of preparing the budget, and not after the budget had been submitted to Parliament as alleged in the newspaper reports. The explanation provided by the permanent secretary was appreciated by all present at the meeting.

Subsequently, Minister Matambo presented a statement to Parliament on February 25 to reconfirm the fact that the said savingram, despite its date of 9 February 2015, was an internal communication to provide feedback to local authorities on the budget preparation process before the Draft 2015/16 Estimates of Expenditure from the Consolidated and Development Funds was finalised and laid before the National Assembly on 7 January 2015, and the presentation of the Appropriation (2015/2016) Bill, No. 1 of 2015 to the National Assembly on February 2. 

The statement notes that “it is not the habit of the ministry to respond to every newspaper article pertaining to its operations.”

It adds that as a matter of fact, “the ministry believes in the role of the media to inform and educate the public on financial and economic issues, as this contributes towards the delivery of its mandate.  However, we are compelled to react this time because of the gravity of the misinformation in the newspaper reports,” concludes the statement. ends