08 Aug 2021

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi recently appointed former legislator Mr Boyce Sebetela, Botswana’s first Chief of Staff (CofS). To get a sense of what the new position is all about and how it fits into the government system, the Daily News’ Greg Kelebonye turned to the CofS himself. Below is an abridged version of the interview. The full interview can be found on the Daily News Facebook page. 

Q: First congratulations on your appointment as the country’s first Chief of Staff 

A: Thank you very much. This is the country’s first Chief of Staff position ever…so it’s uncharted terrain. 

Q: Can you tell us how you feel? 

A: Thank you very much. It’s a heavy burden because it’s a first and there are many expectations. It’s coming at a time when our public finances are not what they used to be…so I know that there will be very little money to help me set up. So I’m going to have to start this function with limited resources, therefore work with what’s available. But I must also say that it’s exciting, because this is something that for a good number of years BDP (Botswana Democratic Party)  activists have talked about…that apart from councilors, MPs and ministers, we need to find a way to infuse into the government machinery, politics…and politics in the sense of the manifesto of the party that won the elections. 

Q: How do we make it the central piece in the government’s planning and execution machinery? 

A: The manifesto is what Batswana will use to hold the government accountable, for they’d refer to the promises made therein. This role will therefore be working with the government machinery to find a way to deliver on the interests of the ruling party…the party that won the elections. The good thing is that we’re not the only country with this role. I’ve had opportunity to look at Chief of Staff in the UK and in the US and the core role is pretty much the same: it’s reminding those who plan all the time about the promises you made… 

Q: So is your position a hybrid of the civil service and politics? 

A: I’m a civil servant with a solid background in politics, not just politics, but BDP politics… for the BDP is the party in power… and we shouldn’t be apologetic about these things…BDP is the party whose manifesto won the day in 2019. We said to Batswana we were going to do certain things and BDP must find a way to get these things done in partnership with civil servants. When discussing his RESET agenda the President complained in a way about some civil servants who were not delivering. 

Q: What should we expect from you with regard to those?    

A: My role is to make sure that the public service machinery delivers on the interest of the party. When I was reading the UK Chief of Staff role, they emphasised STAFF – working, partnering, reasoning with civil service. So we’re one team. Those are interesting terms – ‘partnering’, ‘reasoning’. You know you can reason with me and I may decide I don’t want to reason with you? Well, if that happens the head of the Public Service, the PSP, will help. But you know, having worked with Botswana civil servants I have never had any doubts about their commitment to deliver that which they’re expected to do…if things don’t happen, I don’t think anybody can expressly say its because people don’t want to deliver. It’s a common problem that exists even in the private sector and at home. You have those who deliver quickly and those who do so slowly. You can’t start calling people names… We have had top civil servants leaving the public service and we realise they’re opposition activists soon thereafter. 

Q: Should Batswana be worried such civil servants will be victimised? 

A: That’s not my role. My role is to build a strong partnership with the public service machinery to make government successful. And when government is successful everybody is successful; Batswana have top notch social physical infrastructure, and service delivery that meets their expectations, and I can’t see how anybody can refuse to be a partner in an effort like that, except the partnership says “ there’s this red book” the BDP manifesto; we promised people….and I think we must all be fair to ruling parties…surely there must be an expectation that post-election, the winning party’s manifesto must change government plans. Any reasonable person will know that this must happen. 

Q: So, that having happened, is it not reasonable for the ruling party to also find a way to influence the way the machinery works? 

A: I don’t think any reasonable person would see anything wrong with that. After voting for us, Batswana expect us to deliver on our promises. 

Q: So, in a sense you expect heads of departments and ministries to internalise the BDP manifesto? 

A: The BDP manifesto should inform government planning within the priorities agreed in Parliament through the national development plans and if necessary go back to Parliament and amend, say for example if we have promised something in our manifesto and we don’t have it in our planning document, we need to find a way to put it in. Otherwise we would have falsely enticed Batswana to vote for us. 

Q: That takes us back to our earlier question about opposition activists holding top positions in government and I hear you to be essentially saying that you expect them also to know, to understand the BDP manifesto, to be able to implement the programmes that it informs? 

A: I was in Parliament from 4^th July 1998 until November 30, 2007 and I’ve never had an encounter with an opposition activist in the civil service, or any such rogue person said to be behaving that way because he or she was an opposition activist. 

Q: You say you’re going to work with the public service machinery. How are you going to do it? 

A: I am going to work with the PSP, the Deputy PSP to agree on common approaches to the work that I do. Once we have agreed we shall brief the Minister (Mr Kabo Morwaeng) for input and sanction. We shall then similarly approach the Vice President (Mr Slumber Tsogwane) after whom we shall present my full brief to the President. You have to know – if you dial out holidays – we have 30 months to March 31, 2024. That is a special year, an election year. So we have six months of the current financial year and 24 months of the last two financial years. So we are going to work with speed on areas to deliver on the party manifesto, but we will be doing it within the confines of the Public Service Act .

Q: Let’s talk a bit about your stint in Parliament. When you left in 2007, it was rumored that you were not seeing eye-to-eye with your then boss and President, Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama 

A: Well, it wasn’t true at all – you can ask SKI. I generally do 10 years and leave. I did almost 10 years in Parliament and did the same with Debswana. I didn’t leave because I had relationship issues with anybody. I still relate very well with SKI, I don’t know where those perceptions came from. 

Q: Those perceptions further insinuate that the current President Rre Masisi is bringing back people pushed out by Rre Khama…. 

A: I am surprised…I was in Parliament for 10 and you guys (journalists) never talked to me about my supposed bad relationship with SKI, until I decided to join the private sector…well, we’re a liberal democracy, people must be allowed to express their perceptions and suspicions, but I can assure you that is not true. 

Q: Will we be seeing your Red Friday posts? 

A: No. I am a civil servant. I must work within the constraints of the Public service Act. 

Q: Any last words? We have 30 months to 31^st March 2024. We have a duty to deliver on what we promised voters. The President has come up with the RESET and RECLAIM agenda to re-invigorate us, so we may reflect and individually see what we need to do differently to be successful, not just the government. And this agenda will be at the heart of what I do and what I am shall be doing with the public service machinery. I am going to be working with the OP team. I am going to be planning and implementing my job with them. It’s going to be teamwork 

Thank you Rre Sebetela. We wish you the best of joy in your new role.

 A: Thank you and as we look at how to improve government communications, you guys are going to be part of the journey.ends