Former BDC Managing Director, Kenneth Matambo has been posted back to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning in a newly appointed cabinet by President Ian Khama.
Matambo was first appointed to the finance ministry in 2009 following the granting of sick leave, on full pay, extended to the then minister, Baledzi Gaolathe, by President Khama.
Matambo, who once worked overseas for the International Monetary Fund before returning home, was at one time appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
He would later occupy the driver’s seat at the Botswana Development Corporation where he served for a decade until his retirement in 2008.
Matambo took over at time when the global economy was facing financial crisis which affected the local economy. As a result, the global economic financial crisis left both the Matambo led ministry with an increased budgetary pressure.
Presenting his 2014/2015 budget proposals earlier this year, Matambo told Parliament that in years to come, there will be no more new parastatals.
“In addition, Government will continue with its efforts to reform the governance structures of these organisations to give accountability to both their Boards and management with clear performance targets. All these measures will allow Government, as a shareholder, to contain costs and demand reasonable returns on equity invested in these organisations, as well as in terms of their contributions to economic growth and employment creation.”
Matambo said government will be working on guidelines for the operation and management of existing organisations. He said the Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) has already started drafting guidelines to be used by Government in overseeing performance of parastatals and monitoring overall implementation.
“The oversight responsibility of parastatals will be decentralized to line Ministries. Relevant Accounting Officers will have overall accountability for ensuring that their Ministries implement the guidelines, with regular reports submitted to the Productivity Improvement Committee (PIC Force) and Cabinet,” he said.
He also said government was currently preparing the Privatisation Master Plan II which its main objective is to identify services and public enterprises that are suitable for privatisation during the period years 2014 to 2019.
“There is no doubt that state owned enterprises played a major role in the development of our economy, especially in the earlier years after Independence. However, I believe that the role of state owned enterprises in the development of this country should continue to complement that of Government, given the limited resources at the disposal of Government. In this regard, it is important that these organisations are managed efficiently and effectively for them to contribute to sustained economic growth.”
