The new board chairman for the Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC), Carter Morupisi, has vowed to refocus BNPC to drive the national productivity issues as per its mandate.
Morupisi’s appointment took effect last week Thursday.
“The key issue the new board will embark on is to refocus driver strategies for national productivity movement,” said Morupisi.
He said the global competitiveness index offered useful insight into the key areas where the country must act if it is to optimise the productivity that will determine the economic future.
The 2012 World Bank report points out that the country is lagging behind other economies in implementing enough reforms to make the operating environment more conducive to doing business. Botswana has improved her ranking from 80 to 79 out of 144 countries, with quality score also improving from 4.0 to 4.1
Morupisi expressed worries that Botswana is taking time in trying to address the poor work ethic. Human related factors remain amongst the key challenges facing the country. Poor work ethic is once again the most problematic factors for doing business and has been at the top for the past five years.
He said poor work ethic is a national problem that requires drastic measures. “Poor work ethics in the country also continue to scare investors away because they make Botswana unattractive to investment,” said Morupisi.
The new board chairman emphasized change of mindset both in private and public sector. He expressed disappointment about the country’s failure to make headway in key areas like ICT on which future world economic development will increasingly depend on.
Meanwhile, outgoing board chairperson Festinah Bakwena said BNPC has walked a good walk but it let down the bars along the way.
“It’s very clear where we should put our finger; the crux of our problem is mindset change,” she said.
Bakwena said people do not know what it means to work; saying we have educated people who don’t know basics like courtesy at the workplace. She emphasized that human resource development is a critical issue that the country has to work on to improve productivity. She added that the importance of BNPC should be reflected in the extent to which Botswana’s economy is transformed to reach positive levels of competiveness.
The new board comprises of Baeti Molake, Carter Morupisi, Fraser Tlhoiwe, Norman Moleele, Boipolelo Khumomatlhare, Theko Fako, Ruth Seipone and Ikwatlhaeng Bagopi.