11 Feb 2025

In pursuit of good governance, ensuring transparency, fairness and accountability in public sector operations, the government is taking decisive steps to guarantee that public resources are managed with the utmost responsibility and integrity.

In his Budget Speech on Monday, Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe, emphasised that the new Botswana vision recognised that good governance was not only about policy implementation, but also about establishing accountable and transparent institutions that were capable of fulfilling their mandates effectively.

Mr Gaolathe said the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) recent evaluations had revealed that the authority had not been able to fully execute its essential role in ensuring fairness and transparency in the procurement system, which led to concerns regarding the integrity of public procurement, often marred by inefficiencies, lack of transparency and potential misuse of public funds.

He said in response to the challenge, government had prioritised strengthening oversight institutions, with particular emphasis on the revitalisation of PPRA.

“Recognising the importance of PPRA as a strategic State-Owned Enterprise (SOE), the government is taking significant steps to enhance its capacity to oversee procurement processes more effectively,” he said.

Mr Gaolathe highlighted that one of the cornerstones of government’s plan to strengthen oversight was the introduction of comprehensive audits to evaluate the effectiveness of public procurement.

“These audits will focus on key projects, including those under the Development Manager model, the Central Medical Store and infrastructure projects at key SOEs,” explained Mr Gaolathe, highlighting that the audits would be conducted in two phases to ensure a thorough examination of procurement practices.

He said the first phase would focus on evaluating the value, procurement processes and procedures in place, along with ensuring legal compliance.

This phase will assess if the procurement processes followed by government agencies aligned with established laws and regulations.

He said the second phase would take a deeper dive into financial irregularities and potential signs of fraud, necessitating specialised forensic audits to uncover any financial discrepancies or corrupt practices.

Mr Gaolathe emphasised that those audits would be an integral part of the new oversight framework, establishing a culture of accountability within government institutions, adding that the audits would not be confined to the PPRA alone, but would also involve other oversight bodies such as the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, the Office of the Auditor General, the Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency, and the Botswana Accountancy Oversight Authority.

He said the collective approach would create a robust governance framework, ensuring that public resources were safeguarded and used for their intended purposes, underlining the importance of a unified effort in ensuring accountability and preventing misuse of public funds. ENDS