Kenewendo to replace Tsogwane
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Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his aide Slumber Tsogwane are reportedly grooming youthful Specially Elected Member of Parliament, Bogolo Kenewendo to take over the Boteti West constituency at the next general elections.
Tsogwane, who is also Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has been serving as legislator for Boteti West since 1999. Tsogwane will not be seeking re-election in next year’s party primary elections according to a source close to him.
Tsogwane, a core member of Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s circle was instrumental in bringing Kenewendo to the lawmaking house in 2016. Moments after Kenewendo took oath to assume her duties, Tsogwane was seen escorting the latter to Office of the President to meet President Lt Gen Ian Khama.
Sources indicate that the incoming president is already starting to build his team to prepare for his tenure post the Khama era. Among those listed as part of Masisi’ envisaged golden team include Kenewendo and Lawrence Ookeditse, a Policy Director at the Ministry of Sport, Youth and Culture Development who is expected to take on Polson Majaga for the Nata/Gweta constituency. Tsogwane has however declined to shed light on his anticipated departure as he noted that only time will reveal what will happen between now and the 2019 general elections.
“We are not there yet,” he said, “Nobody has declared their ambitions because we are still dealing with the primary elections for opposition held constituencies. You’ll know when such time arrives.” Tsogwane recently made it to the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Central Committee contesting under Masisi’s lobby list. When asked if BDP is grooming Kenewendo to take over Boteti West, Tsogwane laughed off the question. “Maybe you can ask her, she is in a better position to tell if she interested in contesting,” he said.
Kenewendo was serving as Trade Advisor to the Government of Ghana when she was called to serve as Specially Elected MP. This was subsequent to the amendment of the constitution by parliament increasing the number of specially elected MPs from four to six. Kenewendo was sworn along with former Jwaneng-Mabutsane legislator, Mephato Reatile. Boteti West has been a BDP strong hold since independence, but in recent years, opposition, Botswana National Front (BNF) in particular and later under the auspices of opposition alliance Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) has been making strides. In the 2014 general elections, Tsogwane retained the constituency for the fourth time, thanks to opposition vote splitting.
After the adjournment of the February session, Kenewendo, at the invitation of Tsogwane visited various communities under the Boteti West constituency. It is believed the move was meant to endear the youthful legislator to the constituents. Kenewendo’s contribution in parliament has also raised suspicion, with most of her questions, if not relating to fiscal policy related to the constituency.
Earlier this year, Kenewendo asked the Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism Tshekedi Khama on interventions he had put in place to enable Boteti West communities to benefit from the two parks surrounding them being; CKGR and the Makgadikgadi National Park. Other questions, including regarding the dire water situation in Boteti West have also been posed by the youthful MP. The constituency, though a BDP stronghold, has failed to attract heavy weights in party primaries. Tsogwane became the MP for the constituency after defeating Gabofele Masusu in party primaries, then known as the committee of 18.
Tsogwane is also tipped as one of the leading contenders for the position of Vice President, which will become vacant next year when Masisi becomes president. Khama will retire from office at the end of March in 2018. It is expected that Masisi will appoint a stopgap president next year until the 2019 general elections when he will appoint a substantive Vice President. His requirement for the next vice president has attracted names such as Tsogwane and Edwin Batshu (Minister of Gender and Nationality) that are not returning to politics 2019.
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Batswana owe banks P79 billion
The Minister of Finance, Peggy Serame, has disclosed that the total bank credit extended by commercial banks amounted to P79 billion, out of which P53.4 billion was retail loans and advances to households.
Parliament was informed this week in response to a question by the Member of Parliament for Selibe-Phikwe West and Leader of Opposition (LOO), Dithapelo Keorapetse.
“As at 31st December 2022, loans and other advances extended to households by banks constituted the largest share of bank-lending at 67.6 percent, the majority of which was unsecured personal loans at P36.2 billion (67.8%),” said Serame.
She added that the total household Debt to GDP ratio was 21.9%, while the total private business credit to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio was 10.8%.
On the other hand, it was noted that outstanding mortgage loans extended to households were P14.2 billion (26.6% of household debt) or 5.9% of GDP. Overall, total bank credit as a ratio of GDP stood at 32.7 percent.
It was acknowledged that there are 10 deposit-taking banks in the country, that is, nine commercial banks and one statutory bank (Botswana Savings Bank). This statistics excludes the National Development Bank (NDB), which is a development finance institution. The nine commercial banks include an indigenous bank, Botswana Building Society Bank Limited (BBSBL), which was issued with a commercial banking license by the Bank of Botswana in October 2022.
Still in December 2022, it was recorded that there were 376 non-bank lenders in Botswana consisting of 246 micro lenders, 66 finance companies, three leasing companies and 61 registered pawnshops.
According to Minister Serame, the loan book value representing the principal amount lent by these entities to individuals and to small, medium and micro Enterprises (SMMEs) is collated by the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA), which at 31st of December 2021, the loan book values were P5.6 billion for micro lenders, P1.6 billion for finance companies, P225 million for leasing companies and P14 million for pawnshops.
Government policy is that price control is not effective or desirable, and, as such, interest rates are not regulated. Non-regulation may, among other things, result in an increase in non-interest rate fees and commissions, reduced price transparency, lower credit supply and loan approval rates.
“It is important to note that, from a macroeconomic perspective, household debt in Botswana is neither a pandemic nor considered to be excessive. Indeed, the Bank of Botswana’s periodic and continuous assessments of household debt, including through the annual Household Indebtedness Surveys, suggest moderate household indebtedness and therefore, is of no apparent risk to the safety and soundness of the domestic financial system,” said Serame.
She also alluded this assessment is validated by the recently concluded Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) on Botswana undertaken by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.
Keorapetse however rebuked the issue of debt not being excessive and noted the Minister thinks it’s fine for Batswana to be debt burdened in a way that their debts diminishes their quality of life.
“A significant portion of Batswana’s salaries go to servicing debts and because she doesn’t see this as a challenge, there can never be any intervention from her side. There is no price regulation on interest, which can go up to 30%+ a month. Since President Masisi ascended to the high office in 2018, 2 384 Batswana were put in prison for failure to pay debts, that is 467 Batswana every year. So, for us, debt problems are big and concerning,” said Keorapetse.
He said they are worried because Batswana are drowning in debts because of relative poverty, slave wages and unemployment/underemployment, they buy basic needs and services with borrowed money and noted predatory and unethical lending has become a major problem in Botswana’s financial sector.
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How to fleece P14 million from Chinese investor
The modus operandi of how five men allegedly swindled a Chinese national P14 million last week continue to unravel. Highly placed sources from the intelligence, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) revealed to this publication how the whole scam was concocted.
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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.”