15 Dec 2020

Botswana will be doomed to failure if Parliament  does not approve the proposed national decentralisation policy, warns Mr Eric Molale.

  Addressing Ghanzi District councillors recently, Mr Molale, who is Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, described the policy as a watershed strategy.

  He said  decentralisation  was the pivotal anchor  for Botswana’s transformation  into the third phase of development - being a prosperous  high  income economy.   

 Minister Molale said though government had made significant strides towards decentralisation, a national policy was necessary for  bridging all gaps and ensuring that all services reached communities.

With the policy, he stressed, all communities would have access to all services.

 The minister further said the policy would give service districts more authority to take major decisions. 

Under the policy, service delivery would improve as employees’ allegiance would  first and foremost be to  district operations instead of the ministry, he said.

Mr Molale explained that extension service boundaries would be aligned to district ones.

He allayed fears that government’s intention was to destroy tribal boundaries saying extension service boundaries would be done with the sole purpose of facilitating decentralisation.

Minister Molale said  his ministry had been assigned the  coordinating role for  implementation of the policy.

The ministry’s strategy was being reviewed in readiness for implementation of the policy, he revealed.

 He said the intention was to have implemented the first phase of the policy by 2022 while its other components needing constitutional review would be done at a later date.

Mindset change or attitude would be critical to realise desired results, he added.

Meanwhile, Ghanzi District Council chairperson, Mr Thato Tshweneyagae expressed the hope that the policy would breathe life into the local economy.

“We are very excited about it, we will embrace it and we will be able to empower our local community,” he said. 

The majority of councillors welcomed the proposed policy saying it would help their communities to enjoy all services. 

On another issue, Minister Molale informed councillors that he had asked the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng to negotiate with public employees for discontinuing the dispensation allowing civil servants to run businesses.

 The dispensation had created a negative perception of government employees, he said.ends