01 Mar 2022

Government developmental strategies should seek to transform the economy to a digital one, Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng has said.

Presenting the ministry’s budget estimates for the 2022/2023 financial year amounting to over P2.5 billion on Monday, Mr Morwaeng said the digital governance could be achieved through a broader people centred governance.

Mr Morwaeng further said eventhough the country was sapproaching the last year of the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11), it was till facing challenges.

He said such challenges, to a great extent, had interrupted implementation of many planned activities that had in turn affected the quality of life of many Batswana.

“We must enter the next phase of our development with renewed resolve to achieve prosperity for all as it is our aspiration set in the Vision 2036.

We are, therefore at a point where as a nation we have to look back and evaluate our performance over the years and more importantly to chart a new development path comprising strategies that can best usher us into future opportunities,” Mr Morwaeng said.

The estimates presented by the minister comprised over P1.5 billon recurrent expenditure and over P997 million development budget.

Mr Morwaeng said the estimates represented a 60.12 per cent increase from the 2021/2022 budget for his ministry.

He said an amount of P41 991 616 was being requested for implementation of various consultancies, which included the National Transformation Strategy, Cluster Development Initiative, the National Monitoring and Evaluation System (NMES), consultancies on Legislative Review on Governance and Investigative Research on Good Governance as well as strengthening of Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) capabilities, among other things.

Mr Morwaeng also requested for P203 528 000 to be used for various undertakings including communications, infrastructure, and security related projects and strengthening of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) capabilities.

He also requested for P147 021 446 to be used to continue the ‘SmartBots’ project of village connectivity and for the development of E-Cabinet system, and also P193 200 000 to facilitate the creative industry, upgrade television and radio studios, acquire equipment and content, as well as instal renewable energy system at the Mass Media Complex.

He said the ministry performed well during this financial year in terms of enhancing governance structures.

“During the 2021/2022 financial year we continued to enhance our governance structures, facilitated the development of select national development initiatives, and the development of legislative instruments required to meet the continuously changing national development environment,” he said.

Mr Morwaeng said significant progress was made in the development of the National Transformation Strategy, which began in 2019 and that the first phase of the strategy would be available by the end of the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

He further said the ministry had facilitated the development of beef, tourism, and finance and knowledge-intensive business services clusters.

“The strategic actions from these cluster strategies are currently being implemented in various ministries,” he said.

On corruption prevention, he said capacity-building interventions at the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) in partnership with the Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Centre were done.

“These interventions, which served to facilitate an increase in the uptake of the anti-corruption initiatives, will go a long way in ensuring that the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime  officers are competent to fight and reduce corruption in the country,” he said. Ends