We are of the view that Government should seriously review its immigration policy and allow necessary skills into the country.
The current confusion surrounding our immigration policies smacks of xenophobia.
Many businesses are closing down because they cannot get the necessary skills locally.
The delays, red tape and general difficulties surrounding the country’s immigration policy belie our intention, as a country, to be business friendly.
Still on that note, we welcome a decision by Government to climb down on the steep Point Based System (PBS) pass mark introduced by the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs early this year in the awarding and renewal of work and residence permits; it is a welcome development.
That scheme was counterproductive, outdated in its outlook and harmful to business.
We are, however, worried that government still takes a long time to award residence and work permits.
This undermines efforts to bring investors into Botswana as well as to attract the necessary skills that we do not have, as a country.
The pass mark rate as set even surpassed that of developed economies that are by nature more attractive.
The upshot of it is that it simply disqualified a great amount of people that the country needs, which we cannot afford, given the tight global competition for skills and investments.
More disturbing is the fact that the new pass rate had the effect of disqualifying people who were already in the country before the scheme was introduced.
The high pass mark perched by government had made it extremely difficult for foreigners intending to do business and work in the country the necessary qualifications to do so and in the process denied our struggling economy the benefit of the much needed foreign investment, which would in turn create jobs.
The steep PBS system invariably denied the economy the skilled labour force that our education system has, over the years, failed to produce.
The conditions set out in the PBS system had also affected a lot of businesses whose owners failed to qualify for continued stay in the country, forced to close shop and relocate to alternative investment destinations.
Their relocation to alternative destinations would have caused untold misery to the many Batswana who, as a result, would be rendered jobless. It was important, therefore, to implement the scheme with caution and restraint lest we jeopardised potential foreign investment.
It is, however, comforting that the consultant who proposed the system, Dr Keith Jefferies, has come out in the open and advised government that it had been poorly planned and that the scheme was implemented in a rush. He is quoted as saying that the government introduced the system in a hurry and with a wrong mindset. There was insufficient time to refine the details. There was no real piloting or parallel run, practical impact of the scheme had not been evaluated, application forms/information requirements not amended. As a result a perception was created that the scheme was introduced to block out some kind of immigrants and reduce immigration.
There is consensus that the implementation of the scheme was from beginning to the end flawed, that it made it unnecessarily difficult for new investors and employees to qualify for work and residence permits.
This has resulted in job losses as existing investors with existing businesses have had to close.
We are concerned that the uncertainty caused by the introduction of the scheme, which was perceived as arbitrary, subjective, inefficient and lacking transparency had the potential to disrupt the orderly and stable business environment that had made Botswana an attractive investment destination.
It is commendable that government acted swiftly and reversed the implementation of the scheme upon realizing that it had failed to deliver the intended outcome.
It is further commendable that government has, in the meantime, reduced the pass mark from 75 percent to 55 percent so as to allow a bigger number of people to qualify.
Meanwhile, we want to call on government to use all resources at its disposal to stimulate domestic investment.
Concentrating solely on attracting foreign investment will never be enough, not least because of increased competition between nations.
Domestic development should be used as a precondition for attracting foreign investment. Failure in this regard will no doubt impede our efforts to attract foreign investment because potential foreign investors will invariably always ask themselves why citizens are themselves not involved.
This will scare foreigners away because they will factor it as a kind of political risk.
No efforts should be spared in making our investment climate attractive by implementing a legislative framework that is citizen friendly.
In light of the current high unemployment of 18 percent, we must do all in our power to ensure that we attract those investments with the capability and potential to create massive employment, especially in the production and manufacturing areas.
As a country, it is important that we knock down all investment barriers, including government red tape and bureaucracy. Investors hate being sent from pillar to post when seeking to do business in our country. Given the wide choice they have, they always consider their coming here as doing us a favour, and for most of the time they are right.
