This instalment was meant to focus on the recent Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) request bought before a Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies for over 1 billion in government guarantees for investment in several local entities (Mmegi, 02 September, 2016). But, as many would know, things, especially in media industry, tend to move fast. What you thought was news, in a blink of an eye is regarded as old stuff. However, given the significance of public spending, in particular in contemporary period where governments are struggling with raising funds, I thought the BDC request for funding cannot be left unchallenged.
But before I dwell on the subject matter I find it appropriate to add my voice on the latest issue that is taking centre stage in social media, radios stations and beyond. Yes, there have been pictures uploaded on social media with one depicting our Head of State dressed or draped with something beyond my comprehension. That picture, I should be frank, is distasteful. It does not reflect well on us as a people – where our leaders ought to be held in high regard. Indeed, we can differ with our political leaders, but that alone is not a licence for some of us to do as we please. Obviously, there would be some who will think that freedom of expression as provided in our constitution makes it legal for anybody to say or express anyhow what they want the world to know. I do fully agree with such submission, but to a certain extent. We need to be reminded that rights are not provided without limits. Their enjoyment, to put it bluntly, should be undertaken in a manner that also takes into consideration the rights of others. And what was uploaded on Facebook in relation to our president should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We should guard against losing key values that have defined what being Motswana entails. And Botho should remain a cornerstone of our existence if we are to become a progressive nation.
Back to today’s subject matter. I am afraid we are regressing as a nation. To be honest, I have reached this conclusion after observing disturbing developments in our public sphere that has given rise to greed, corruption and related ills. Undoubtedly, BDC remains a key institution in government economic diversification agenda. As a public enterprise, often presented as a drain on public coffers, BDC proved over the past decades a different animal. It played its part in economic stimulation of our economy as an investment arm of the government. BDC, surely, did well. However, lately BDC has become part of the disturbing narrative when discussion on public enterprises emerges. It has lost the plot. The recent past leadership of the corporation, for example, have been implicated on activities that pointed to elite corruption and mismanagement. Who would forget the Palapye Glass project? You just need to pass through Palapye to see the horrors of graft, where almost a billion pula was spent, but what is left for us the public to see is an unfinished factory shell that would not have even consumed fifty thousand pula. Indeed, re jelwe!
Against the background of corrupt practices by its executive, new faces were brought in to resuscitate the ailing giant. Like many of my counterparts the new leadership offered confidence to take BDC to its former glory days. In particular, the MD, Bashi Gaetsaloe, came across a smart individual who possessed the requisite skills and knowledge to manage such an organisation. He came across an independent man, far removed from politics. This is what we saw in him. He was definitely the right man for the job. As from 2014 the corporation did turn the corner financially after off-loading its holdings in projects seen as non-strategic, in the process raising almost 340 million pula, which will be invested under the new strategy. A transformation process is indeed in full swing and offers hope that the future is bright. To Mmegi “BDC has refined its investment strategy and tightened its oversight, and now boasts a “rigorous deal approval process” which “includes independent assessment by external industry experts” (Mmegi, 09 September, 2016).
In practise, however, things appears different. The new BDC appears any different from the past BDC. If deliberation before Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies last week is anything to go by, I am afraid the corporation is headed in a wrong direction. The BDC MD and Board chair, Blackie Marole, went before the committee seeking government guarantees for an P850 million loan already approved by the African Development Bank and another P150 million, which it plans to raise through a local bond. They came after this committee after Finance Minister, Rre Mathambo, failed in his bid to fast-track the motion on the last day of just ended parliament session. Amongst the projects earmarked for funding was Milk Africa in Lobatse which needed 45 million pula, 200 million pula on the expansion of Ba Isago University, a hopping 250 million pula to invest in Letshego and on and on. The list proved a joke of what they wanted that tax payer’s money for.
For instance, one would want to know why BDC would want to invest in private tertiary education. To put it bluntly, why would they want to invest 200 million pula on Ba Isago? Why would they want to go that direction when it is too obvious government is struggling with sponsoring our children at university level? How do they see investment on a sector that is already over-subscribed? And importantly, government does have publicly owned universities, so why would it want to take money elsewhere instead of funding its own institutions? I smell a rat. Government cannot ignore its institutions and opt to fund privately owned ones, unless there is something they are keeping us from knowing. And with almost 10 universities around Gaborone servicing a small population like ours, BDC interest in Ba Isago raises more questions than answers. Financial recklessness that is emerging at BDC should also be condemned in the strongest possible way.
*Dr Molefhe teaches Public Administration at the University of Botswana
