17 Jun 2021

It is now a given that COVID-19 has spawned numerous fiscal challenges for governments across the globe.

From costs associated with response to the pandemic to loss of revenue and budgetary constraints, the impact cannot be underestimated.

A grim reality, Botswana too was not spared. 

Left with no choice, government was forced to readjust and set new priorities. Otherwise, the twin role of simultaneously financing the recurrent and development budgets, an undertaking ministries would not achieve solo, would have become illusive.

Consequently, in an effort to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 and ensure that government achieved more with less, the need for well-coordinated efforts became more apparent.

It would be against this background that Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane, who had been touring various projects around the country, would during subsequent consultative meetings with leadership in Kgatleng District, announce reforms government put in place to help local authorities navigate budgetary constraints.

Part of the reform process, he stated, was government adopting ‘zero-based approach’ budgeting going forward. 

Zero-based budgeting is a process that tasks managers to build a budget from the ground up, starting from zero with particular emphasis on justified objectives.

“The development will also assist in appropriately prioritising spending plans by directing resources to where their greatest areas of need are, guided by what government can afford,” added Mr Tsogwane.

Through this idea, the Vice President stated that there would be effective and efficient fiscal spending. 

He said implementation of programmes and projects would be guided by priorities, which he observed would assist in creating balance on unprecedented pressures from increased expenditure against declining revenues due to COVID-19.

Mr Tsogwane highlighted that of the country’s P56 billion national budget, the bulk was recurrent expenditure, especially the wage bill, something he reckoned called for some form of cushioning through Economic Diversification Drive initiatives. 

He further called for promotion of effective government spending, regretting that huge sums of money slipped through the fingers of accounting officers because of rampant wastages within government departments. 

Given current economic challenges, he added that there was need for fiscal discipline.

Furthermore, Mr Tsogwane reiterated the President’s call for a ‘reset’ and mindset change that it should complement local authorities’ strategies for the realisation of the Economic Diversification Drive, which was part of national priorities set by government.

“The President’s ‘reset’ mantra should be a guiding principle in your strategies as a district,” he emphasised.

Mr Tsogwane also stated that the Digital Transformation/4IR Strategy dubbed SmartBots should be infused in all government machinery as the country was transitioning towards a knowledge-based economy. 

“This is a strategy that drives the digitisation of the public sector and drives Botswana towards a knowledge-based economy,” he stated.

He said SmartBots was an action plan through which government intended to transform the public sector for efficient services provision and promotion of an export-led economic growth.

“We want to build an economy that is driven by knowledge, an economy that embraces ICT and for that, digitalisation should be implemented to effectively deliver services to our people,” he stated.

Mr Tsogwane also emphasised the need for local authorities to go all out in an effort to turn around the economy through implementing strategies that would assist the citizenry to become middle income class and grow rural economies.

In that regard, he called for mindset change, owing to the fact that COVID-19 affected implementation of some projects planned for NDP11. 

In addition, Mr Tsogwane said projects earmarked for the Economic Transformation Recovery Plan should be assimilated within current budgets.

The Vice President further stated that some strategies aimed at revitalising the economy were put in place through the Rural Development Council, hence local authorities should assist in their uptake to stimulate economic activities within districts.

 

He said some economic activities which could be turned into investment opportunities and ultimately create employment in rural areas could be initiated in districts. ENDS