12 Dec 2017

Minister of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama said his ministry was prepared to amend the wrong acts and move forward.

Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies and Public Enterprises on December 11, Minister Khama said while in the past he took actions without involving Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) board of governors, he was prepared to engage them and correct past mistakes.

The minister and several staff members at the BTO have been in trouble following the direct appointment of a United Kingdom based company – ASUIA, to provide inbound insurance services to the tourism sector.

Minister Khama had written a letter to the BTO directing them to appoint the company and subsequently, a contract was signed between the two parties.

This was done without the knowledge of the board and invitations for tendering were neither floated.

The minister said to rectify that, he instructed the board to endorse the contract or start the project afresh.

He said currently all the right procedures were now being followed.

BTO this year won numerous international awards and the minister said such was a result of their clean-up process.

The minister did not spare the previous BTO chief executive officer and permanent secretary in his ministry, who jumped ship when the going got tough. 

He said his current permanent secretary, Mr Jimmy Opelo, should not be blamed for the rot as he was new in his position and therefore relied on information he was given.

Mr Opelo said he was first given information that the contract between BTO and AUSIA had been terminated, but later found that such was not the case.

He said according to information he received from BTO, there were legal implications in cancelling the contract.

Meanwhile, the minister said he had deferred the tabling of the Tourism Amendment Bill to a later date to allow for consultation with stakeholders.

The Bill was to be tabled during the current session of Parliament, but following consultation with the committee, the minister decided to defer it.

For his part, the committee chairperson, Mr Samson Guma advised the minister to let the board do its job.

He said operational functions of the BTO should be left to the board and management, and the minister’s role should be giving policy direction. ENDS