Matsheka responds to Serame’s Budget Speech the way back benchers should

I will confess that I have not listened to, or read all responses of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Members of Parliament in the back bench with respect to the Minister of Finance Hon Peggy Serame’s budget speech. The few responses I have listened to are your typical praise singers more than anything else. Instead of making a detailed analysis of this year’s budget speech vis-à-vis last year’s, BDP back benchers in my view have been disappointing and pitifully below par in this regard. This is further confirmation that a big chunk of the back benchers are simply a rubber stamp to what the Executive brings to parliament. This in a big measure offends the principle of Separation of Powers.  As I was following the back bench responses, I came across that of the immediate past Minister of Finance and Member of Parliament for Lobatse Hon Dr Thapelo Matsheka. Hon Dr Unity Dow has also showed signs of a true back bencher regards being had to how she tore apart the dreaded Directorate of Intelligence and Security when responding to the State of the Nation in 2021. This conversation will therefore largely rely on Hon Matsheka’s response in order to demonstrate what is expected of the back benchers in terms of sharply pointing out the flaws and shortcomings in the budget speech wherever they could be identified.

Hon Dr Matsheka begins his response to the budget speech by referring to the ‘policy pronouncements and key levers to achieve the Vision 2036 and other strategy papers including the Reset Agenda….The level of Unemployment stands at 25.4 percent; the level of Poverty stubbornly at 20.8 percent… ’.  My take from these quotes is that Hon Matsheka is bringing to the fore whether or not Hon Serame’s budget speech could be interpreted as reasonably and adequately addressing the Unemployment and Poverty challenges Botswana is currently facing.  It is a widely held view from some members of the pubic that government is doing very little if any to take these challenges head on with tangible and sustainable strategies. Without such demonstrable strategies, the Vision and Mission of Vision 2036 together with those of the Reset Agenda will become more populist talk with no meaningful outcomes.

The second topic covered in Hon Matsheka’s response deals with the recently established National Planning Commission (NPC). While he welcomes it, he notes ‘the number of departments that have been brought under one roof. I am not sure that all the departments fully delivered their mandates and thus run the risk of bringing undesirable cultures to the renew approach of planning’. It is a well-known fact that parliament has recently approved the P 64 billion Transitional National Development Plan (TNDP) to be implemented in the next two years. Following the establishment of the NPC, it has come out that His Honour the Vice President will be chairing it. Your guess is as good as mine as to what is likely to happen when such huge budget is overseen by politicians.  By extension and if I am correct, the Vice President will oversee the P 64 TNDP with the assistance of a Development Manager who is likely to come from a Durban company. The question is how effective the NPC will be in fulfilling its mandate with the rumoured Durban company lurking in the horizon and consequently the effective and efficient implementation of the TNDP in terms of benefitting Batswana? Are we not starring at Botswana’s version of State Capture?  Is this not the ‘risk of bringing undesirable cultures….’ Hon Matsheka is alluding to. He somewhat dismisses the TNDP by stating that ‘there are critical to specific policy issues to address in the short space of 2 years to transition to 2024, these are the Mid Term Review of NDP 11, Economic Recovery and Transition Plan and the Reset Agenda’.

The third topic Hon Matsheka raises is what he calls ‘policy contradictions that produce counter cynical effects on growth’.  This is with respect to the restrictions imposed on the importation of specific vegetables and fruits into Botswana from South Africa effective January 2022. The policy contradiction I believe he is not happy about is answered by the pertinent question he poses when he says ‘how we are going to export to these countries that we restrict access to our markets’. This policy contradiction seems to be in direct conflict with the overall letter and spirit of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Botswana recently ratified. Article 3 of this agreement provides that ‘The provisions of this protocol shall apply to trade in goods and services between State Parties’. As a landlocked country that imports more than it exports, Botswana has always since independence been in a precarious position in which luckily, no country has imposed restrictions on its exports to the country.

As I write, Botswana has had a good number of cattle from which at this point in time, we should be self-sufficient in milk and other dairy products. As it stands, our annual milk requirement is said to be close to 70 million litres while we can only afford a paltry 6 million liters or so. Don’t get me wrong, it is every Motswana’s wish including myself that we are self-sufficient in all foodstuff. The harsh reality is that we have done very little if any since independence to be so self-sufficient by dismally failing to diversify the economy. It serves no meaningful purpose to be coming up with knee-jerk reaction in pursuit of achieving self-sufficiency coupled with contradictory policy decisions Hon Matsheka is talking about. Like I wrote about a fortnight ago on this column that knee-jerk reaction took precedence over all expected logic in imposing restrictions on the importation of specified vegetables and fruits, the country is worse off than before in terms of the consistent supply of these to the consumers. Local produce is erratically supplied and in instances where such is available, it is of poor quality and expensive. The Telegraph’s elder sister the Sunday Standard ran a story over this past weekend headlined ‘Questions about safety of Botswana’s horticultural produce raised in the Ivory Coast’. This was in reference to the report by the African Development Bank on the study of food and agricultural delivery in Botswana.

All I am saying is that we urgently require responses to the Minister Serame’s budget speech and to other papers tabled in parliament by the Executive in the mould of Hon Matsheka’s. But being aware that his many colleagues on the back benches have consciously decided neither to hear nor see evil in anything the Executive brings to parliament, Hon Dr Matsheka and Hon Dr Dow will remain the only lone voices. While their colleagues may not publicly say it, it is reasonable to conclude they do not take kindly to what these two say given how they themselves have not found demonstrable fault in the budget speech. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise as always. Judge for Yourself!

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