A no holds barred report by the United States suggests that xenophobia and corruption in the manner with which government tenders are awarded are to blame for the country’s failure to attract foreign direct investment.
In its Country Integrated Strategy (CIS) for Botswana, the US notes that “xenophobia and corruption influence policy and procurement decisions, resulting in an unattractive environment for foreign direct investment.”
The report says gender inequities and marginalization of key populations persist and constrain full economic participation by many of Botswana’s communities. “Rural infrastructure quality and access to information and government programs remain poor and obstruct economic development in rural communities, compounding concerns of marginalization,” the report says.
The report acknowledged that electricity drives technology, particularly in manufacturing. “Failure to lower electricity costs will make Botswana’s products significantly more expensive to produce than those of its neighbors and will prevent Botswana from reaching its manufacturing potential,” the report says.
It notes that Botswana’s economic recovery is slow or lags that of regional neighbours due to high economic dependency on finite resources. Social and economic difficulties driven by the Covid-19 pandemic limit trade and travel, while constraining private sector and Government of Botswana (GoB) capital to invest in a diversified economy, new industries, and SMMEs.
“Among other critical infrastructure, electric reliability, internet costs, and poor telecommunications connectivity quality make Botswana’s businesses less competitive,” the report says.
Touching on other related issues, the report says it “also understands the failure to hold the GoB accountable for its international commitments to fight wildlife crime will be to the detriment of a vibrant ecosystem, as well as the rule of law.
Just as the U.S. government works to mitigate the risk of global apathy, the report says, “We acknowledge that a lack of political will from GoB leadership and the absence of an active and vocal civil society, an educated work force, and transparent rule of law to support conservation and fight wildlife crime reduces the chances of success for this objective.”
“Therefore, our Mission’s approach to mitigating these risks focuses on building the capacity of Botswana’s institutions to combat environmental crime and to implement its climate change strategy and to promote community based natural resource management,” the report says. The US says its approach also seeks to sensitize civil society and Botswana’s young people to the risks that Botswana runs if it does not take appropriate action.
On other issues, the report says the GoB is undergoing a major operational transformation.
“The COVID pandemic highlighted the limited absorptive capacity of existing health staff to provide primary health care services while meeting the needs of an aging HIV population. COVID-19 shrank Botswana’s already understaffed healthcare service as providers succumbed to the disease or left the profession,” the report says.
It says economically, the cost of purchasing vaccines and managing the emergency is still being quantified. Serious questions about the GoB’s ability to sustain services at the level that it has been providing have emerged and the GoB is taking a hard look at the equity and sustainability of continuing to provide existing services.
“During the period of this ICS, the GoB will decentralize services through District Health Management Teams (DHMT) and will diversify the manner in which services are delivered to include private and civil society partners when these methods are more efficient and cost effective,” the report says. It observes that “Failure to address staffing gaps and to effectively collect and analyze data could lead to a revers a lot of the progress Botswana has made to relieve its previously high health burden.”
