22 Mar 2016

The Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Eric Molale has requested over P1.7 billion for the Ministry of State President for the 2016/17 financial year. 

Under the recurrent budget, Minister Molale requested for over P1 billion and about P600 million for the development budget. 

Presenting the budget proposals on March 21, Mr Molale said the recurrent budget represented an increase of 6.5 per cent over last year’s budget. 

He said the increase was attributed mainly to increases in allocations of the Office of the President (OP) due to the transfer of portfolios of district administration as well as that of Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) to the State President. 

Mr Molale noted that other departments had marginal increases while the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM), office of the former President, Government Printing and Publishing Services and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) had a slight decrease. 

The minister further stated that out of the proposed recurrent budget, the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) would take the largest share of over P298 million, followed by OP with over P218 million, Department of Broadcasting Services with over P163 million and DPSM with 12 per cent while the rest of the departments would share the remaining 26 per cent. 

For the development budget, the minister said it represented a reduction of 42.3 per cent from the 2015/16 budget. 

The reduction is primarily attributed to the transfer of the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) and the Government Modernisation Office to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport and Communications respectively. 

Furthermore, the minister said DIS would take the largest share of over P206 million out of the total amount requested under the development budget, followed by the Poverty Eradication Programme at P200 million, development of media facilities at over P115 million and consultancies at P39.6 million. 

Mr Molale said the remaining 6.3 per cent of the budget would be shared among the rest of the projects in the OP, Department of Information Services and DCEC. 

Presenting a breakdown of major projects under the various departments, Minister Molale said OP computerisation project would require about P4million and that out of the amount, P2 million would be used for the completion of the development of the News Management System at the Department of Information Services.

“The system is an automated and integrated system for collecting, processing and storing news items. This will also enable the production and printing of the DailyNews newspaper,” he said.  The balance of the funds, he added, would be used for the computerisation of the National Strategy Office and other departments.

He said for OP consultancy projects, over P39 million was required for the continuation of the review of Vision 2016 as well as the development of Vision 2036. 

Mr Molale noted that other works would be on the development and implementation of the national monitoring and evaluation framework, mega projects, doing business reform roadmap, cluster development as well as the structural review for the Office of the Auditor General. 

He said the development of media facilities, which would require over P115 million, would be undertaken at the Department of Broadcasting Services while P9 million would be used for the completion of the radio and TV transmitter expansion project, which was ongoing countrywide. 

Still under media facilities, over P5 million was requested for the radio and TV equipment while the implementation of the digital migration programme required P1 million. The project entails the upgrading of the country’s broadcasting platform to a digital format  from studios to transmitters as well as content acquisition. The minister said the remaining P900 000 was earmarked for the upgrading of outside broadcast facilities. 

He said the project would enhance BTV’s news and programmes presentation through the use of video walls, virtual system displays, improved lighting facilities and improved station identification. 

For continuation of the Poverty Eradication Programme P200 million would be required while over P31 million would be required to cover the refurbishment of Orapa House to make it suitable for use as office space. 

The balance of P360 000 would be spent on completing the construction of airboat for the National Disaster Management Office in Gaborone and Maun he said. The minister also requested over P1.7 million for the DCEC, and out of the amount, P900 000 would cover the cost of upgrading the case management system while P826 276 would be allocated for fleet expansion to address transport needs in the department. 

Mr Molale also requested over P206 million for the implementation of various development projects at the DIS.

The projects include various infrastructure developments, improvements in communication network and acquisition of mobile platforms. ENDS