23 Mar 2020

Parliament has passed the Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) Bill that intends to amend provisions relating to the authority’s board membership.

Presenting the bill recently, Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Lefoko Moagi said any delay in the consideration of the bill would compromise delivery of services rendered by BERA as an economic regulator for energy.

He said the bill was intended to correct the BERA board structure to enhance governance in the running of the authority that was facing challenges as a result of a weak structure which he deemed ungovernable.

Mr Moagi said since inception, the board had not been able to discharge its mandate in accordance with the act due to its structural set-up which derailed it from its mandate.

He said the current board membership provided for unclear reporting lines between the chief executive officer and board members as it was comprised of four full-time as well as four part-time members.

Mr Moagi said the four full-time members took advantage of the set-up and flexed their muscles because they were able to take some decisions for the authority as its employees.

Furthermore, he argued that board members who were full-time employees had more powers over the chief executive officer because they were workers and on the other hand had to report to the chief executive officer, and as such were privy to some information and decisions taken by board members hence chaos in terms of their relationship with the chief executive officer who was supposed to supervise them.

He noted that the BERA board was governed by an interim board whose term expires in April.

Clause 3 of the bill amended Section 8 of the act which provided for eight members of the board, of which four were full-time and the other four part-time members. Mr  Moagi said a normal board should be constituted with members from outside the authority without any vested interest which might compromise their performance.

Mr Moagi said Section 8 of the act was, therefore, amended to provide for standard provisions relating to board membership.

He said under the new act, it was proposed that the board should consist of seven members appointed by the minister who should be qualified in disciplines relevant to the regulated sector.

The minister shall appoint, from amongst members, the chairperson of the board while the deputy shall be elected by members. The chief executive officer shall be an ex-officio member of the board, but shall not have voting rights.

Other sections of the act deal with disclosure of interest by members of the board.

Commenting on the bill, Good Hope-Mabule MP, Mr Eric Molale said the act was meant to protect consumers and business people in the energy sector and ensure economic growth as driven by the energy sector.

He said since the original objectives of the existing law were never met, it called for the act to be examined as to why there was an issue relating to governance.

Mr Molale argued that implementation of the law was not happening because there were some lapses in the act.

He said the object of the bill was to look at the structure of the BERA board composition and determine what made it dysfunctional, adding that that was why there should be a reasonable bill to change its structure by amending anomalies.

“Such a structure in an evolving governance system like ours cannot work. We cannot have a structure like this, especially where consumers should be protected,” he said.

Other legislators agreed that with a properly constituted board, with corporate governance principles, issues of alleged corruption would be duly be dealt with.

They said the amendment would create clear steps of direction to take in the event there were any anomalies.

MPs further implored the minister to appoint board members on merit and not on political patronage. ENDs