23 Jun 2021

Government will use decentralisation as a framework to realise national development goals, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Eric Molale had said. 

Speaking during a virtual Southern District full council meeting on Tuesday, Mr Molale said government considered decentralisation as an effective governance reform process for realising Botswana’s next set of ambitious milestones. 

He said the main thrust of Vision 2036 was ensuring prosperity for all as well as deepening and sustaining participatory democracy, adding that to realise this ambition, Vision 2036 placed decentralisation at the core of the country’s governance system. 

He said it placed emphasis on human capital development, amongst others, which would require leveraging local endowment, therefore decentralisation policy would facilitate this by, among others, empowering local authorities and citizens to initiate and implement their own development activities. 

Mr Molale said decentralisation was linked to National Development Plan 11 pointing out that both were mutually reinforcing and timely since they had a common goal of empowering citizens through improved service delivery and accountability. 

He said government was implementing a Public Financial Management (PFM) Reform Programme with the aim of utilising of public resources for long-term sustainable development, noting the decentralisation policy must inform the reform priorities for effective policy implementation. 

He said an important instrument for implementing the decentralisation policy was the budget process, which would be reshaped by on-going public financial management reforms. 

Minister Molale said the public sector reform aimed at improving efficiency in the public sector, through a double-pronged approach of a private sector led economy and a modernised, efficient lean government focused on policy and strategic issues while local governments focus on policy implementation through local development activities. 

District/Urban Development Plans (DDPs/UDPs), he said were designed as the main instruments for planning and implementation of development priorities at district level that were directly linked to decentralisation. 

He said DDP served as a framework for mobilizing and bringing together local government institutions and other development actors within districts, around development priorities and therefore development priorities at district level were identified, defined, refined, costed, financed and implemented through DDPs, and at community level through Village Development Committees (VDCs). 

He said other policy which was directly linked to decentralization was the Revised National Policy for Rural Development aimed at enhancing the quality of life for all Batswana living in the country’s rural areas. 

“This will be achieved through the implementation of supportive policies that are geared towards promoting self-reliance and sustainable development,” he said. 

Mr Molale said National Spatial Planning Framework (NSP) was also linked to decentralization that provided a framework for efficient and optimal utilisation of the country’s natural resource endowments to ensure sustainable socioeconomic and physical development. 

“The Local Authorities, will therefore take a lead in the implementation of the spatial plan,” explained the minister. “Decentralisation will facilitate the NSP to match physical resources with the development needs, thereby creating a cohesive and effective framework for development planning and evaluation,” he further said. Ends