11 Dec 2017

Parliament has on December 7 approved the Competition Bill which seeks to provide for the establishment of the Competition and Consumer Authority, the Competition and Consumer Board as well as the Competition and Consumer Tribunal.

Several MPs who spoke supported the bill, saying it was overdue as Batswana had for too long suffered as a result of unfair tendencies in the business environment.

Gaborone Central MP, Dr Phenyo Butale, who applauded the spirit of ensuring that a competitive environment in which consumers were protected was created, described the bill as a step in the right direction.

He said without such pieces of legislation, a robust and competitive environment would not be possible.

He however pleaded with government to capacitate the implementation of the bill, and ensure that the bill was capable of closing the lapses that were on the ground.

He said Botswana had a problem of bringing into effect good pieces of legislation by failing to avail sufficient financial and human resources to ensure their successful implementation.

Dr Butale also spoke against the secrecy that he said was prevalent in some sectors such as in diamond mining.

He said for the sectors to be shrouded in such secrecy was indicative of the high chances of there being numerous non-competitive tendencies taking place.

Emphasising the need to promote and nurture transparency, he said it was worth noting that secrecy was on its own corrosive.   

MP Dithapelo Keorapetse of Selebi Phikwe West, who also supported the bill, highlighted the need to continue efforts to prevent and stem out corrupt practices, arguing that the violation of competition often came in the form of corruption.

He further noted that the overarching objective of legislating competition should be about job creation hence the need to protect start-ups against the abusive behaviours such as predatory pricing that were often used by big businesses to push the smaller ones out of business.

“We should be jealous and guard against predatory tendencies of big businesses who deliberately suffocate small businesses thereby pushing them out of business,” he said, citing the poultry industry as one sector in which the few big players had pushed ordinary Batswana out in the cold.

Molepolole South MP, Dr Tlamelo Mmatli said while the bill was good, one would expect it to do away with unfair business practices which continued to disadvantage Batswana.

He said the bill should enable small businesses to access the market. Dr Mmatli also underscored the need to do away with the monopolies currently enjoyed by some corporations in the country, saying allowing such to continue to happen also impacted negatively on the lives of citizens.

Making his contribution to the debate, Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone said the implementation of policies and programmes continued to be a challenge in the country.

He added that it resulted in citizens not being able to participate in their country’s economy.

Mr Arone observed that the bill would help reverse trends in sectors in which non-citizens had been dominating such as in tourism and the lecturing cadre in tertiary institutions.

He said there was little in terms of legislation to ensure that locals were given a fair deal in some sectors of the economy.

The MP said it was important to help Batswana, especially marginalised groups such as women and the youth to enable them to start businesses and penetrate the market.

MP Noah Salakae of Ghanzi North pointed out that when coming up with such pieces of legislation, it was crucial to be sure that they took into account the interests of all Batswana and not only those in urban areas.

Mr Salakae said it was also critical to bring all Batswana up to speed with laws meant to protect them so that they could not continue to be taken advantage of despite the laws being in existence.

He said the laws would be as good as non-existent if the people for whom they were made were not aware they existed.

The MP for Nata-Gweta, Mr Polson Majaga said he was happy that the proposed bill provided for the establishment of the Competition and Consumer Tribunal that would be responsible for investigating anti-business practices.

He said he supported the act because of its reference to welfare and consumer protection.

Mochudi West MP, Mr Gilbert Mangole said he welcomed the bill as it sought to safeguard the interests of consumers as well as guarding against the abuse of power by dominant players in the business fraternity.

The MP, who said small businesses would now have where they could forward their queries, also called for the Competition and Consumer Authority, once in place, to create awareness in the business community as the new bill had room to guard against exploitation.

MP Samuel Rantuana of Ramotswa said he did not support the bill. 

He said before regulating the playing ground, government ought to have first addressed Batswana’s concerns that parastatals such as Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) were ripping them off with exorbitant charges for service provision.

Mr Rantuana said the monopolies being enjoyed by BPC, WUC and other parastatals needed to be done away with as that too constituted an unfair business practice.

He also complained that ministers were being given excessive powers as they could appoint boards and tribunals as well as chairpersons of the said boards.

He said such an arrangement was risky as ministers could eventually use the boards to push their own agendas which did not serve the interests of the nation. ENDS