21 Feb 2018

Specially Elected Member of Parliament, Ms Bogolo Kenewendo has urged government to increase accountability in the public finance system by allowing the Minister of Finance and Economic Development to supervise all government special funds.

Contributing to the debate on the 2018/19 budget on Monday, the legislator said there were loopholes in the public finance management system; which makes the accountability of several government special accounts elusive.

There are currently 33 special funds belonging to government, she said.

"The National Petroleum Fund (NPF) scandal has exposed cracks in our public finance management system. Though these funds such as the NPF are by law, they remain subject to very little scrutiny,” said Ms Kenewendo.

She explained that when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) focused on these special funds, some appeared in the Auditor General’s report but were not in the government accounts, while some of the special funds did not appear in both books.

And when PAC asked why that was so, Ms Kenewendo said it was told that it was up to the Accountant General.

To address the issue of little scrutiny of government special funds, the legislator said government must ensure that all the loopholes that exist within the public finance management system are closed.

“The Vocational Training Levy does not appear in the government accounts but it appears as a problematic item in the Auditor’s report. That is problematic because it shows the loopholes in our public finance system and they need to be closed because they bring questions to the credibility of the system that we have been celebrating over the years,” she said.

Furthermore, she said, “ I think as a recommendation, we need to tighten these systems and ensure that all the withdrawals are supervised and authorised by ministry in charge of our public finances,” she said.

Focusing on state owned enterprises, she expressed concern that only seven from the 15 state owned enterprises were able to make profits in the past few years.

Ms Kenewendo said something should be done in relation to the losses by those ‘which are not making profit.’

She added that government should scrutinise whether it was happy with the return on investment of those that were supposed to be regulatory and those that were development SMMES.

"I think some of them, is time for them to be privatised while some perhaps are no longer serving their roles and should be closed,” she added.

However, she said some loss making ones like Botswana Meat Commission could still be salvaged because their loss making had been because they lacked transparency and had given exclusivity rights to some independent and private companies.

Regarding the issue of unemployment, she said it required a concerted effort from government ministries, civil society and private sector.

She advised that the immigration policy be amended to make it more welcoming to investors who would help to create employment opportunities.

The Specially Elected MP further said government needed to entice local investors as well as foreign ones to invest in Botswana.

In his contribution, MP for Thamaga-Kumakwane, Mr Tshenolo Mabeo thanked the Minister of Finance and Economic Development for having allocated funds for job creation.

He said the creation of more jobs would help to grow the economy.

He further advised government to look at equitable allocation of developments across the country instead of some places getting more developments while others get nothing.

“It is important during our process of implementing developments to look at whether we are distributing developments equally where they are required. There are those who are required in some places but not needed in another place. I am talking about priorities,” he said.

He said development should be distributed fairly in all constituencies because people in constituencies which get little developments would end up feeling that their MP failed to represent them properly in Parliament.

Furthermore, he said lack of infrastructural developments in some places had contributed to lack of business investments in those places.

He also said speed humps should be erected in the road passing through Kumakwane village to force drivers to reduce speed, which would address the road accidents issue on that road.

“In December, three people lost their lives after being hit by vehicles on that road. Despite the speed limit on the road, drivers have continued to drive at high speed through the village,” he said. ENDS