31 Jul 2018

Director general of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), Mr Bruno Paledi has refuted allegations by some media houses that DCEC was a toothless institution which was only interested in investigating the ‘small fish.’

Speaking at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between DCEC and TOTUMA association in Francistown July 31, Mr Paledi called on various media houses in Botswana to report fairly and accurately about the anti-corruption agency.

TOTUMA is an association formed in 2008 by arable farmers from Tutume, Tonota and Masunga with a common goal of producing food for Batswana. Membership of the association currently stands at 97.

He said some reports about the DCEC were baseless and misleading adding that ‘corruption is a very complex thing to the extent that some people can even facilitate it without knowing that they are doing corruption.’

He therefore appealed to the media to help the institution  fight corruption at all levels, saying writing stories that only criticised the institution was not helpful in the fight against corruption.

Mr Paledi said DCEC had formed a formidable force with the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security to fight corruption hence the signing of the MoU with TOTUMA arable farmers association.

Mr Paledi therefore appealed to farmers across the country to fight corruption at an earlier stage because “where corruption is rampant, it becomes a norm and practice amongst those facilitating it.”

He appealed to Batswana to develop a tendency of speaking openly about the effects of corruption and at the same time being brave in supporting DCEC to root out corruption.

TOTUMA chairperson Mr Jan Erasmus said the association would commit itself to the marriage it established with DCEC since last year.

“Our marriage will set out conditions and terms in order to combat corruption in the agricultural sector not only in the northern region but also across the entire country,” he added.

Mr Erasmus further stated that TOTUMA decided to partner with the DCEC in fighting corruption because the agricultural sector was the economic backbone of the rural livelihoods in Botswana.

He also explained that there was some degree of corrupt practices in the agricultural sector with some people playing ignorance of it.

He therefore said the signing of the MoU would play a critical role in the fight against corruption so that those involved did not escape.

This signing of the MoU is a five-year marriage between TOTUMA and DCEC, which would see DCEC conducting some auditing of the association’s activities as well as conducting induction courses for committee members. ENDS