29 Mar 2023

Minister of Finance, Ms Peggy Serame has urged government ministries to prepare their sub warrants well on time to enable quick disbursement of funds to implementing departments.

Ms Serame was speaking during her proposals for Parliament to authorise a total of P16.6 billion from the consolidated and development funds as part of a total of P21 billion required for development projects expenditure for the next financial year.

She indicated that her ministry had in the past been accused of late disbursement of funds to ministries even though such was not the case.

“I want to make an assurance before this house that before March 31, I will have issued warrants to all permanent secretaries, and expectation is that by April 1, funds will have been disbursed to all ministries, so I would like to urged such ministries to prepare their sub warrants well on time to ensure timely and smooth disbursement,” she said.

Ms Serame also said her ministry would look into the P150 million tertiary development fund to see if the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) could similarly be assisted from the fund as the University of Botswana and the Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST).

She, however, said apart from the fund, there could be other ways of assisting BUAN to develop the agricultural sector value chain. 

She also said contrary to belief that supplementary budget proposals were always done because ministries had poor management of funds, there were more compelling reasons.

“A typical example is this year’s supplementary budget which arose as a result of salary increment for civil servants which was done long after the adoption of the consolidated budget for that year,” she said.

Ms Serame also promised legislators that in future her ministry would consider consolidating research and development funds by various ministries so that it could be apparent how much government spent in the field.

Ms Serame also appreciated legislators for their contributions to this year’s budget proposal, saying their input would be valuable for future budgetary planning.

In his contribution to the revenue appropriation bill, Vice President, Mr Slumber Minister confirms youth clinic in North East district Tsogwane had pleaded with Ms Serame to include BUAN in the P150 million proposed for research and development.

He reasoned that such was because agriculture was vital and underpinned the core of the daily lives of ordinary Batswana.

“The fund will also help in ensuring that the country develops value chain in the agricultural sector, which we have hardly tapped into although it has the potential to emancipate Batswana from poverty,” he said.

For his part, the Member of Parliament for Tonota, who is also the deputy speaker, Mr Pono Moatlhodi urged Mr Tsogwane, who is also the Leader of the House, to reign in on ministers who returned funds while people were in need.

“A typical example is the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, which spent only about 6 per cent of funds disbursed to it in this financial year while schools have dire shortage of stationary,” he said.

Mr Moatlhodi also appreciated what he said was a good work ethic by the staff of the Ministry of Finance, whom he also praised for their willingness to assist where necessary.

Mr Moatlhodi also urged government ministries and departments that since the budget for financial year 20213/2024 had been approved, the ball was now in their court to implement proposed projects.

Member of Parliament for Francistown West, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi, urged government to be cautions of over-borrowing, which he said might create debt for future generations.

“When we borrow we should be considerate to avoid overburdening future generations because we never know what their challenges would be,” he advised.

In her proposals for revenue, Ms Serame sought a total of P16.6 billion to be appropriated from the consolidated development fund as part of the total development fund estimates. 

She said of that amount, P4.4 billion be covered through loans while P98.4 million would be covered through development grants,” she said.

The total estimated expenditure required for the development budget for the financial year 2023/2024 is P21 billion.

Additionally, Ms Serame proposed P150 million as tertiary development fund for the University of Botswana as well as BIUST. ENDS