18 Oct 2015

Botswana’s rankings in corruption have been declining in recent years, despite maintaining position as the least corrupt country in Africa, an official from DCEC has said. Speaking at the anti-corruption commemoration organised by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on Friday, Ms Erica Ndlovu said government was worried by corruption prevalence.

“Anti-corruption has always been a priority on the government agenda and will remain so into the future to safeguard the country’s economic and social outlook,” she said.

Ms Ndlovu added that as a result, government had committed to reviewing legislation, increasing awareness and forging partnerships in the battle against corruption and economic crime.

Senior assistant director in Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), Ms Ndlovu noted that rampant corruption hindered development as public resources were diverted to the pockets of corrupt individuals.

Deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Mr Jacob Momene, said the commemoration was to raise staff awareness about anti-corruption. 

“Today’s event envisages to sensitise staff on the negative economic repercussions of a corrupt workforce,” he noted.

He emphasised the need for Botswana to be seen to have zero tolerance for corruption by the international economic players in order to attract foreign direct investment, create jobs and eradicate absolute poverty.

“We are committed to the elimination of corrupt practices in our ministry as corruption has severe consequences; it kills competition, scares investors and undermines human rights.”

The ministry would continue training committee members in corruption prevention and staff sensitisation with an endeavour to close the skills gap in key areas, he added.  In his opening remarks, Kgosi Tshegofatso Samoka of Kasane called on the ministry to prioritise capacity-building in areas such as fraud detection.  Ends