23 Mar 2016

Nationwide consultations for Vision 2036 are ongoing and the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Eric Molale says he is pleased with the level of commitment from Batswana. 

Presenting the budget proposals for his ministry on Monday, Mr Molale said the draft document of the vision would be presented before Parliament during the winter session for approval in order for it to be launched in September. 

Minister Molale further said the government was committed to diversifying the economy as it was the foundation for a resilient and sustainable economic growth. 

He said the government has adopted a cluster development concept as a long term strategy to promote economic growth through industrial clusters. 

The minister said cluster development was one of the most effective instruments to ensure survival and growth of small, micro and medium enterprises as it enhances their business performance. He also said cluster development helps with the adoption of appropriate technology, improvement of product quality and productivity and increased turnover and export. 

He said all these would ensure holistic development and contribute towards local economic development that was being promoted through the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. 

The minister said the clustering policy focuses on areas with high potential success such as diamond (beneficiation), beef, mining, tourism, financial services, health and education as well as enabling sectors such as communication, innovation, technology, transport and education. 

Mr Molale said public awareness and education on the cluster development concept has been conducted through NSO to create an understanding and buy-in by various government stakeholders. 

He said his ministry has secured technical assistance from the World Bank to provide an in-house expert to support NSO coordinate the implementation of the cluster development programme, and that it would lead to the development of a national cluster development framework as well as sector specific strategies. 

On the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP), Mr Molale said progress had been made since its introduction in October last year. 

He said the construction of 25 public houses in the Sefhare/Ramokgonami area under the programme was being done by citizen companies as underpinned by the ESP goals of empowering Batswana. 

He also said under ESP was the Target 20 000 exercise, aimed at upskilling unemployed youth across the country. 

Minister Molale said the cabinet has approved a comprehensive reform programme to improve the doing business environment aimed at reducing or eliminating hindrances to business activity. 

He said the final outcome would be the growth of business investment as well as foreign direct investment, making Botswana globally competitive. 

The minister said there was some progress in some areas such as efficiency in property registration and electricity connection. 

He said as a result, Botswana’s global rankings on the ease of doing business conducted annually by the World Bank have improved in recent years. 

Minister Molale said the government was on track to develop the national monitoring and evaluation system through technical assistance from the World Bank. 

The project is expected to strengthen monitoring implementation processes on all national programmes and policies, track performance on achievement of national development goals and facilitate evidence-based decision-making. 

He said the main agenda for the project was to deliver on the National Development Plan (NDP 11) monitoring and evaluating performance framework, implementation of the developed monitoring and evaluation tools and implementation of the change management and linkages between planning, budgeting, personnel management and M&E strategies. 

The minister said the government would continue to reform the public sector with the aim of improving service delivery. 

He said the government has developed a 10 point agenda, which was a pledge to the public to be responsive, flexible, courteous and transparent in providing service. He said the government introduced a customer service survey in March last year and that on average they received 15 000 responses every month.  

He said the government has also introduced a community score card where recipients of government services were accorded the opportunity to provide their perspective on the quality of services provided by different government ministries and departments. Ends