Education officials race to blow P1 million on retreats
News
Officials at the Ministry of Basic Education (MoBE) are said to be on a spending spree and racing against time to deplete the remaining funds that formed the P6 billion that was the recurrent budget allocated to the Ministry during the 2017/18 budget. The intention is to beat the deadline of closing of government books.
Government’s financial year cycle ends in March 31st and the Ministry officials are said to be splashing the money to avoid returning unspent millions of pula to the government coffers before the new financial year. Ministry of Basic Education was in 2017 allocated the largest amount of P6.80 billion or 17.2 percent of the total Ministerial Recurrent Budget by Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo.
It is understood that some of the funds (about P1 million) have gone unutilized and would have had to be returned but some departments are said to be running helter-skelter to ensure that the funds are all used-albeit not as should have been. The officials are said to have booked expensive and fancy retreats in faraway places as a way of using as much of the remaining funds as possible.
“A lot of funds are spent willy-nilly. Department of Technical Services under the Basic Education Ministry is said to have recently used up close to half a million for a retreat at Kasane,” an insider told WeekendPost this week. The Southern Education region office, still under the Ministry of Basic Education is also said to have used P600 000 at Maun recently also for a retreat. The money is said to have been channeled to Curriculum Development and Evaluation department through to the other individual departments.
Efforts to solicit comment from the Southern Regional Education office Director, Acronews Maseko did not materialize as he along with other senior officials like the Public Relations Officer were said to be still at Maun at press time. Meanwhile when approached by WeekendPost outside parliament following the Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security supplementary proposal debate on Wednesday MoBE Assistant Minister Moiseraele Goya pointed out that the government funds said to be splashed on retreats by Ministry officials around the Education regions were budgeted for.
“The cash being used on retreats is the money that was already budgeted on the items before and during the budgeting stage. It was budgeted for that specifically for purposes of capacitating the employees; they must be work-shopped to bring them up to speed in terms of current developments,” he said. On how much money the whole Ministry has utilized so far and how much will be brought back to government coffers the Assistant Minister said it was not yet clear at this point.
“We cannot know at this juncture as to how much we have spent as a ministry and how much money will be brought back to government. You will know just after the 15th March as the financial year draws to a close. We are still spending,” he further told this publication.
In addition he said: “we also have even requested for a supplementary budget because we have already exhausted our money for the recurrent budget for this year.”
The exhaustion of the recurrent budget of the Ministry has led to depletion of crucial funds like that of payment of temporary teachers, a move which Goya also admitted. Goya confirmed that “at this point we don’t even have funds to pay temporary school teachers. Re nna re kopa kwa le kwa re pecha (we request from here and there to make do for now).”
Meanwhile when speaking before parliament while debating the supplementary budget proposals for the Administration of Justice this week Goya said, like the Ministry of Defence, they always ask for a supplementary budget because they utilise all of the funds on their ministry recurrent budget and that this should be commended.
In the recurrent budget, out of the 6 billion allocated to the Ministry of Basic Education in 2017, the money which has all been used, have assisted in implementation of the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP) which seeks to refocus education and training towards fulfillment of a more diversified and knowledge-based economy. “You should utilise all funds that you requested accordingly and for this we need to be encouraged and commended,” Goya told parliament while adding that they managed to utilise all the funds except for developmental budget.
In the development budget still in 2017, P844.94 million or 5.1 percent was proposed for allocation to the Ministry of Basic Education. The bulk of these funds amounting to P731.95 million was said to be for Secondary Schools Programme to cater for among others, provision of additional ICT facilities in secondary schools as well as construction of staff houses.
Why some Ministry funds go back to government reserves Goya maintained that the ministry funds get returned to the government treasury because of a slow procurement system by officials. “The development budget is purely for undertakings of ministry projects in terms of infrastructure like classrooms. Part of it will be brought back to government coffers. The reason why the money goes back is that; what has been happening in the past which is unfortunate is that the government officials wait until very late to prepare tender documents,” the Assistant Minister observed.
He pointed out that it is uncalled for and sluggish as the budget process starts around September, every year (like last year) in which the ministry can prepare well in advance for procurement processes. “What must happen after September is that just after the proposals have been sent to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, then in January the following year the process should have started to prepare the tender documents, and then floating, then companies declaring interest and then adjudication takes place until awarding and then telling them to wait until April 1st when new financial year starts and funds get disbursed.”
Right now is already late as they have not started the process of tendering and that is why, he emphasized, that the money is mostly brought back to the government coffers. Meanwhile in 2018, Ministry of Education has also gotten the largest share amounting to P7.97 billion or 17.7 percent of the total Ministerial Recurrent Budget.
News
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.
News
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
News
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.