14 Mar 2016

The Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP), Mr Carter Morupisi has urged public servants to implement the economic diversification drive (EDD) by procuring goods and services from citizen owned companies. 

Addressing public officers on the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP), Mr Morupisi reminded public officers that the government spent 70 per cent of her budget on the procurement of goods and services. He said  if the funds were channeled towards citizen companies, it could boost their economies. 

He said an increase in the number of citizen companies would benefit the government from taxes which would in turn help in projects implementation as well as servicing Batswana. 

Mr Morupisi noted that the procurement of goods and services from foreign countries was tantamount to exporting jobs. 

Whilst encouraging public officers to procure from beneficiaries of government programmes where possible, he warned against compromising on quality. He added that shunning local small enterprises was a sure way of getting them to collapse. 

Though Mr Morupisi encouraged engagement of local companies, he cautioned against overburdening them with jobs, arguing that jobs could be shared amongst local companies so that the impact of ESP could be felt in all localities across the country. 

He informed public officers that agriculture was capable of creating jobs whilst also creating jobs through its various stages of manufacturing and processing. However, Mr Morupisi said farmers were not getting enough support from officers on how best to utilise programmes.

He urged farmers in the Central District be produce in large quantities, and to take their produce to the Selebi Phikwe agro-processing plant. 

On other issues, Mr Morupisi informed public officers that district commissioners (DCs) were focal persons for the programme at the district level and that heads of departments (HODs) should report to them. He also appealed to HODs to attend DCs meetings without fail for projects implementation and progress reports. 

For her part, the director of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, Ms Rose Seretse appealed to public officers to inform themselves on the PPADB Act as they procure goods and services for the government. 

She said the act was critical in the procurement of goods and services despite the fact that the rollout of ESP had to be done expeditiously. 

“It is the responsibility of each and everyone of you to root out corruption and keep it at bay because if your country goes down due to corruption, you will be going down with it,” warned Ms Seretse. 

The DCEC noted that some goods and service providers, under the guidance of corrupt public officers, charge exorbitant prices in order to share the dues upon successful payout. 

She also noted that there were companies which constantly won tenders from departments without fail, saying such practices “were red flags for corruption.” 

“Evaluation criteria should be fair and understood by all,” said the DCEC boss, adding that all bidders should have equal access to information on the tender. 

The corruption busting agency boss appealed to paying officers to take time and visit projects to ensure that the public funds they release towards a projects are put to good use. ENDS