11 May 2016

The Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Eric Molale says Botswana spends close to P1.2 billion per annum on food procurement for schools.

Officially opening the 20^th annual general meeting of Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA) , Mr Molale said his ministry was discussing the revision of school menus with the Ministry of Health and that of local government and rural development.

“We are trying to come up with a menu to be used in schools that suit our local produce and in turn benefit local producers,” he said.

The minister said the role played by the private sector in diversifying the economy was well appreciated by government; hence government came up with policies and programmes aimed at nurturing private sector participation.

Mr Molale further said government had placed a lot of expectation on BEMA and the private sector at large to help with job creation among other issues.

“Government has come up with various policies and programmes that are aimed at promoting citizen participation in growing the country’s economy through the involvement of the private sector,” he said.

He however cited the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) and the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD), as some of the introduced programmes.

Minister Molale said he was aware of a couple of challenges faced by the private sector such as BEMA and encouraged dialogue among the concerned parties to resolve such challenges.

He advised them to raise the issues with government through proper channels and procedures, adding that government had always strived to do its process transparently.

Mr Molale said manufacturers and exporters doing business with government should raise red flags if tender processes were not being followed. 

He said policies, laws and programmes that government had put in place were good and lagging behind was implementation and utilisation of such initiatives.

“Intentions of the initiatives by government are good and it is very disturbing that even before implementation of such initiatives some people are already pronouncing them a  failure,” he said, further adding that Botswana like any other country was on a quest for a better life for all its citizens.

Mr Molale further encouraged the different components of BEMA to work towards complimentary competition and to stop blocking others from the market. 

“We have a small market in Botswana but the possibilities outside Botswana are endless and we are not even talking about going overseas, but our neighbouring countries and the rest of Africa,” he said.

Mr Molale noted that his portfolio of public administration encompasseed promoting dialogue, making sure that government policies are rolled out to the people, understood and taken up.

“This is the only way we can move forward, engaging with each other, understanding each other’s positions, sharing challenges and solutions to our common concerns and not being hostile towards each other,” he said.

For his part, president of BEMA, Mr Nkosi Mwaba said the organisation would be celebrating 21 years in business by hosting a gala dinner on September 2, this year, where they will also launch their Business Awards.

He indicated that BEMA appreciated the initiatives and programmes that government came up with to help the economy grow.

“Initiatives such as EDD and ESP are excellent programmes for our country, but we also need to stress the importance of accelerating implementation of these initiatives,” said Mr Mwaba.

“There is a lot of potential to explore when it comes to manufacturing and exporting and we need to sell ourselves to the rest of the world and be competitive globally. And, this can only be possible if we start here at home by being competitive,” he said. ENDS