Confessions of a thieving ps
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With government coffers bleeding to debilitating levels, a former permanent secretary (PS), who on one or two occasions had to participate in some corrupt activities in favour of his minister to secure him a government contract, has made a confession to this publication on how government is crippled of billions of pulas.
His reason for sharing, he says, is the popping out of activities that have fleeced government of billions of Pula. He cites the National Petroleum Fund (NPF), the Palapye Glass Project, the Morupule B Power Plant, a series of suspicious tenders awarded at Ministerial Tender Committee levels as the main sources of leakage within government. He also points to the plethora of Funds and Levies which are mismanaged and abused as the reason why Botswana “will soon be on her knees, if the carnage is not stopped.”
The former PS, whose name is known to this publication said he was worried by the fact that in many instances, the public views them as lazy people who do not even know their job. “But, the issue here is a lot happens behind closed doors in government offices. People take advantage of the five years and below contract term that we work under, and they just make us do corrupt things knowing we will be afraid of losing our jobs,” he noted.
“You get instructions telephonically or verbally that such contractor must be awarded a tender. And you will be told that you must see to it that you organise a proper team which will help you do the assessment process well. If maybe you don’t have people who do not question things, some officials will be transferred from other government departments to do as the seniors have instructed.”
The PS said sometimes they would ask their bosses to make a written instruction whereby they will be promised, but to no avail. “And you cannot ask them for the second time to make a written instruction; you just carry out the job as commanded,” he decried. He further noted that at times, they even get instructions from their juniors who lead certain departments within the ministry. “And because you are on contract, you just implement.
Of course, you know very well that what is being proposed is contrary to procurement, protocols or even accounting protocols: But you fear for your contract which would normally be extended by approval of that individual.” He decried that these dynamics of communicating verbally without any footprints have led to a lot of officers resigning for lack of evidence to prove the offending actions.
BUT THE MONEY PORES KEEP OPENING UP
Just recently the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) increased thresholds for Ministries’ Ministerial Tender Committees (MTCs). But according to this permanent secretary, “this is where the biggest problem lies.” He says they are easily instructed verbally to giving jobs to certain companies regardless of whether they qualify for the job or not.
In his estimation, “tax payers are losing billions to a well-orchestrated corruption scheme within government.” The former permanent secretary likens the scheme to a pyramid scheme because the key players are linked by their corrupt activities and they help each other get contracts or tenders across ministries.
“It is unfortunate that those who are sucking government of millions of Pula have been retained in cabinet. The thing is they always make sure it is not their names that appear on documents, they are smart. But they get the money and we ruin our names and reputations,” he said. The former permanent secretary said it is embarrassing that government is owing fuel suppliers more than P1.2 billion. “This is all because of the mismanagement and looting that took place at the National Petroleum Fund (NPF)”. He points out that some of the service providers are owed money in the region of between P200 million and P300 million.
Just last week, the Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Eric Molale, acting on behalf of the Minister of Finance and Economic Development transferred an amount of P430 million from the Road Levy Collections Fund to the National Petroleum Fund (NPF).
According to the Government Gazette of 25th May 2018, Molale cites that “…it is in the best interest of the public and the exigencies of the financial situation renders it expedient to withdraw funds from the Road levy Collections Fund to the National Petroleum Fund.” Finance and Economic Development Minister, Kenneth Matambo told WeekendPost in an interview on Friday last week that, “Yes, we gave NPF the money. NPF is bankrupt as we speak,” he said,
INCREASED THRESHOLD IS A BLANK CHEQUE TO THIEVES
The former permanent secretary is concerned that the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) has reviewed and increased the financial ceilings of both the Ministerial Tender Committees (MTCs) and District Administration Tender Committees (DATCs). He says this should have come with more tight financial controls. Although he draws solace from the proposed declaration of assets and liabilities laws and Financial Intelligence Act, he is worried by the sluggish implementation of oversight laws in the country.
According to the reviewed thresholds, one of the Ministries that brew the biggest scandal in the country, the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security had its threshold shoot from P300 000 000 to P600 000 000 . The new ceilings will become effective on the 1st June 2018. According to the PPADB the objective is to improve efficiency in the procurement system by ensuring that timely decisions are made at the Ministry and District level. “But there can’t be efficiency where corruption is the main reason for floating tenders and jobs,” observes the former permanent secretary.
The PPADB is mandated in terms of Section 65 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal (PPAD) Act to carry out this exercise. Another jump in threshold saw the Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services also had its threshold doubled from P200 000 000 to P400 000 000.
Central Medical Stores, which has been on front pages for fraud related issues in the past had Adjudication Committee also leaped from P100 000 000 to P200 000 000. Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Ministerial Tender Committee will now preside over a threshold of P240 000 000 instead of the old P120 000 000. The Ministry of Basic Education threshold has improved from P80 000 000 to P130 000 000.
The Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security Ministerial tender Committee budget has doubled from P160 000 000 to P320 000 000. The Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development is up to P160 000 000 from P100 000 000; while the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism threshold doubles to P130 000 000.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Tender Committee will make decisions worth P200 000 000 effective 1st June2018, a double from P100 000 000, the same figures and changes apply to the Ministry of Health and Wellness. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing Development Tender Committee threshold experienced the biggest percentage jump from P135 000 000 to P400 000 000.
On the other hand the Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation Ministerial Tender Committee threshold was increased from P65 000 000 to P130 000 000; as for the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, the Ministerial Tender Committee will start presiding over tender worth P300 000 000 compared to the previous P150 000 000. At the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the threshold has doubled to P240 000 000; as is the case at Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs where the figure has doubled to P200 000 000.
The Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Ministerial Tender Committee will deal with awards capped at P160 000 000, a jump from P80 000 000. At the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology the Tender Committee has been capped at P160 000 000, an increase from the old P80 000 000. Ministry of Transport and Communications’ Ministerial Tender Committee has its ceiling pinned at P260 000 000, an improvement from the P160 000 000 of old. The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development also has a huge percentage jump from P120 000 000 to P360 000 000.
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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”
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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks
President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.
“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”
In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.
It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.
Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.
President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”
In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”
He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.
“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”
Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”
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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV
Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.
“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”
Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.
“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”
He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.
Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.
Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”
“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”
Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.
“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”