10 Jul 2013

Some Members of Parliament have given thumbs up to the Banking (Amendment) Bill, 2013 that seeks to strengthen the country's fight against tax evasion and money laundering.

Commenting on the bill that was in its second reading this week in Parliament, MP for Palapye, Mr Moiseraele Goya said the bill was a welcome development in that it would assist government in collecting money that would be used for development.

Mr Goya said the amendments would strengthen the law and give the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) the powers it needed to crack down on tax avoidance. “As a country, we are low on revenues and we need everything in the butt so we should see to it that people do pay their taxes, therefore BURS should be able to get information from banks without any trouble so that people pay their taxes,” he said.

The MP for Tonota South, Mr Pono Moatlhodi also welcomed the bill, saying byamendment bill, Botswana was proving wrong reports from other countries accusing it of being a tax haven.  He said with such an amendment, Botswana was showing other countries that it had laws in place, adding that through the amendments, BURS would be able to investigate people living extravagant lives on where they get their money.

Boteti legislator, Mr Slumber Tsogwane also shared the same sentiments that the legislation was long overdue. “But in any case, all is not lost as this will not only benefit the country but it will also benefit individuals who at times fall victim to harsh realities of tax penalties when they find themselves without proper records,” he said.

Other MPs though not disagreeing with the proposed amendment cautioned that there should be those who would be held accountable since going into people’s finances was not a matter to be taken lightly. The MP for Kgatleng East, Mr Isaac Mabiletsa said that the legislation did not specify on who had the powers to search through people’s finances and therefore might give anyone working for the BURS to go through people’s finances.

“What I am getting from this is that everyone who would want to get records of any other person would go ahead and do it as long as he is at the BURS. Since we are a small country we know each other well and we might find some people trying to fix personal vendettas by going through other people’s finances. We need to show who has authority over what, so that at the end of the day there is accountability,” he said.

His views were share by the MP for Mahalapye West, Mr Bernard Bolele who said there should be confidentiality as far as going into people’s accounts was concerned.“We should may be have a banking ombudsman who would be there to protect the rights of our citizens,” he said. ENDS