Guma throws Masisi in centre of BTO controversy
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President Mokgweetsi Masisi has been asked to take action against Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism Tshekedi Khama owing to his actions that threw Botswana Tourism (BTO) into controversy.
The Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies and Public Enterprises, chaired by Tati East legislator and former Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) chairman Moyo Guma was tabled before parliament this week following a period anticipation. The report, which was presented by committee acting chairperson Ndaba Gaolathe was not kind to Khama over his actions in the running of BTO affairs.
The report points out that Khama breached BTO Act in several ways, including among others; failure to appoint a board within a reasonable time-frame to run the affairs of the BTO; intentional and unlawful supervision of the BTO as if it is a department of the Ministry; going against procedural advice of the Permanent Secretary, Chief Executive Officer of the BTO and Non-Bank Institutions Regulatory Authority; and unlawful procurement appointments during the absence of the Board.
Blame is also apportioned to Khama for the BTO satellite office which was to be established in Dubai, at the minister’s instruction. According to the report, the Board had indicated that due diligence was not conducted to determine the viability of the office since it was Khama’s instruction. “The result was that a market analysis was not done to determine whether the market was relevant and worth the investment for the Botswana products. In spite of such procedural deficiencies the BTO was to spend P17 million on the establishment of Dubai office over a period of three years,” reads the report.
“It became apparent during the interrogation of the CEO that the BTO Board was no-existent for nine months hence the Ministry usurping the functions of the Board. The Committee was of the view that procedurally and in accordance with statutory requirements the CEO should take instructions from the Board not the Ministry.” The report implicates Khama in making direct procurement of services of one Mike Brook for the production of 10 copies worth P1,347,500 in the absence of the board.
Khama is found to have been directly involved in the restructuring of the BTO, a decision which would have required an additional P23 million which was not budgeted for, subsequently necessitating the Ministry of Tourism to approach parliament through supplementary appropriation. “It came to light that the Minister was directly running the BTO. The decision to restructure should have emanated from the Board and not the Minister,” the report reads.
The committee also found Khama to have acted wrongly when he instructed BTO to appoint a medical insurance company to provide an insurance cover for BTO. A direct appointment of ASUIA as a service provider for inbound insurance was to be made at the request of Khama. A contract was to be signed with the company at the direction of the Minister. “The NBFIRA had advised that BTO should engage a local insurer before opening the tender to international bidders. This advice was ignored by the Ministry,” indicates the report.
The committee further found that the decision made by Khama should have actually been made by the Board. In another wrong doing, Khama instructed then BTO CEO Brian Dithebe to appoint Changu Newman to be the BTO attaché in Washington DC against the advice from the Human Resources Unit.
“Mrs Newman’s overall performance in the assessment indicated marginally below average competency potential compared to other professionals in management. This also had a bearing on the issues of governance where the Minister interfered with the running of the BTO,” says the report.
The firing of BTO CEO was not procedural according to the report. The Acting Chairman of the Board acting together with Ministry agreed and terminated the contract without following proper procedures since the Acting Chairman of the Board cannot legally act on his own without other members of the Board, stated the report. “The Committee was of the view that the action of the Acting Chairman and the Ministry was procedurally flowed.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee recommends that the BTO be instructed to to conduct a forensic audit for a three year period ending December 2017, under the direction of the Auditor General and report findings to Parliament) the Tourism Bill, 2017, seeks to validate a process which was done improperly, and therefore the Committee recommends that the bill be deferred pending the outcome of the detailed forensic audit, Khama has also been warned to refrain from acting in such a manner that violates the BTO Act, with further recommendation that President takes appropriate action in relation to the Minister’s meddling with the affairs of the BTO.
In November 2017, Masisi, then Vice President coaxed Khama to withdraw the Tourism Development Levy Bill, after it emerged from the committee that Khama tried to validate his actions at BTO through the bill. The committee also comprise of Major Gen Pius Mokgware, Gilbert Mangole, Sethom Lelatisitswe, Dr Phenyo Butale, Kosta Markus and Mephato Reatile.
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Local tennis team upbeat ahead of Billie Jean King cup
With almost two weeks until the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, which will be staged in Kenya from June 12-17, 2023, the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) ladies’ team coach, Ernest Seleke, is optimistic about reaching greater heights.
Billie Jean King Cup, or the BJK Cup, is a premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched as the Federation Cup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The BJK Cup is the world’s largest annual women’s international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The finals will feature 12 teams (Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) competing in the four round-robin groups of three. The four group winners will qualify for the semifinals, and the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup will be crowned after the completion of the knockout phase.
Closer to home, the BW Tennis team is comprised of Thato Madikwe, Leungo Monnayoo, Chelsea Chakanyuka, and Kelebogile Monnayoo. However, according to Seleke, they have not assembled the team yet as some of the players are still engaged.
“At the moment, we are depending on the players and their respective coaches in terms of training. However, I will meet up with Botswana-based players in the coming week, while the United States of America (USA) based player Madikwe will probably meet us in Kenya. Furthermore, Ekua Youri and Naledi Raguin, who are based in Spain and France respectively, will not be joining us as they will be writing their examinations,” said Seleke.
Seleke further highlighted the significance of this competition and how competitive it is. “It is a massive platform for our players to showcase their talent in tennis, and it is very competitive as countries target to get promoted to the world categories where they get to face big nations such as Spain, France, USA, and Italy. Though we are going to this tournament as underdogs because it is our second time participating, I’m confident that the girls will put in a good showing and emerge with results despite the odds,” highlighted Seleke.
Quizzed about their debut performance at the BJK Cup, he said, “I think our performance was fair considering the fact that we were newbies. We came third in our group after losing to North Macedonia and South Africa. We went on to beat Uganda, then Kenya in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play Burundi due to heavy rainfall and settled for the position 9/10,” he said.
For her part, team representative Leungo Monnayoo said they are working hard as they aim to do well at the tourney. “The preparations for the tourney have long begun because we practice each and every day. We want to do well, hence we need to be motivated. Furthermore, I believe in my team as we have set ourselves a big target of coming home with the trophy,” she said.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.