The Minister of Trade has forcefully waded into the ongoing merger between BEDIA and IFSC by taking the merging exercise away from the two companies and installing it into her office from where it is managed by a Deputy Permanent Secretary.
Dorcas Makgatho-Malesu has made it clear that a merger of BEDIA and IFSC will involve a holistic exercise, which will result with some people “naturally” being negatively affected.
In an interview, the minister said the review will, among other things, evaluate the skills base at the disposal of the two merging organisations.
She said because the merger entails the setting up of a totally new company, there would result in some people in the two original companies being unable to fit in the new entity.
Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority is led by Jacob Nkate, while Allan Boshwaen is Chief Executive Officer of International Financial Services Centre.
As chance would have it, Nkate, a former Minister of Trade, used to be Malesu’s political boss when Malesu was herself a BEDIA Chief Executive Officer.
Malesu said she has engaged a team of organizational review experts who are working closely with the office of Attorney General.
The expectation is that the experts will give government guidance on the character and mandate of the new company.
Following cabinet decision to merge BEDIA with IFSC, Malesu has put her foot down and insisted that neither organization should view itself as too important, too big, too influential and or too powerful as to swallow the other.
Talking to The Sunday Standard she said what will come out of the merger is a totally new company with different characteristics and a different mandate from the merging entities.
“BEDIA is not swallowing IFSC. Neither is IFSC swallowing BEDIA. It therefore does not arise that one will necessarily be the leader of the other,” Malesu said as a matter of fact.
She said in every opportunity that she has had to deliberate on this merger she has emphasized to all involved that what BEDIA and IFSC were going through was a “very sensitive” organizational restructuring.
Answering the question on what would happen to the two CEOs after the merger is complete, Malesu said she was not worried about that because the new re-defined Act of parliament will deal with that question.
“I am not even thinking of advertising positions of CEO because we are not there yet. But normally an exercise like this has negative connotations attached,” she said, referring to the fact that some people may become redundant as a result of the skills review.
She underscored the fact that no job could be guaranteed as there has to be a broad based “skills and competencies review.”
