The Telegraph’s sister newspaper the Sunday Standard dated 30 January-5 February 2022 carried two disturbing stories titled “Manake defies Cabinet, Masisi” and the other “BAMB board spurns ‘cooked-up’ DIS report on corruption and fraud”. The name of the former Ass Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Beauty Manake is prominent as it is mentioned about eight times not for the good but for all the wrong reasons. At the centre of these two stories is the glaring and deliberate but self-created lack of understanding of separation of powers between the mandate of political authority and the board of directors in so far as the processes and procedures of appointing a Chief Executive Officer of a State-Owned Enterprise are concerned. By any account, this glaring and deliberate but self-created lack of understanding of the separation of powers is in direct conflict with the President’s Reset Agenda.
Consequent to the misconduct of Manake who seemingly does neither comprehend nor appreciate the enormity of her actions and misconduct vis-à-vis the said Reset Agenda, the President’s blueprint remains a bridge too far. While I am specifically mentioning Manake in this article, her misconduct as mentioned herein is not specific to her. It is widespread and therefore the order of the day in government. Issues of serious violations of good governance are revealed day in and day out in government.
The President’s Reset Agenda is his blueprint the purpose of which is to change Botswana for the good of Batswana by filtering it into the public administration. By implication, it requires without any condition, people like Manake to implement it without fail. The Reset Agenda seeks to transform Botswana and Batswana through its core priorities. One of those is to ‘Align the Botswana Government Machinery to the Presidential Agenda.’ For all intents and purposes, the starting point for the Reset Agenda to have a meaningful impact on Batswana, is for public officials like Manake to demonstrate without any doubt that they are alive to it and consequently adhere to it to the letter. Sadly, the saga surrounding the processes and procedures of appointing the substantive BAMB CEO falls far too short to enable the implementation of the Reset Agenda. On any other day, Manake would have long been removed from cabinet because of her dismal failure to demonstrate she is up to the task of complying and implementing the President’s Reset Agenda. Because the Cab Memo would have been discussed in cabinet chaired by the President, it goes without saying the President should have dismissed her from cabinet for failing to ensure it is complied with. One school of thought would dictate me to conclude that because she is in the President’s good books, she is untouchable hence her do-as-you-please demeanour.
The facts about Manake’s misconduct according to the Sunday Standard’s report on “Manake defies Cabinet, Masisi” suggest she had long wanted the dismissed former CEO of Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board Rre Leonard Morakaladi (who was dismissed under Manake’s watch and probably with her concurrence) to be reinstated. This despite a Cab Memo confirming the appointment of Dr Benjamin Ditsele to be the substantive CEO of BAMB which memo she was required to act on but seemingly decided to ignore presumably to make it easy for her preferred person to be appointed to the position. The BAMB board of directors had recommended the appointment presumably after following the due process in this regard back in August 2021.
In the process of identifying a suitable CEO to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Morakaladi, it has been widely reported that out of despicable and blatant abuse of power and authority, Manake somehow caused the name of Morakaladi to be included unprocedurally in the list of applicants albeit after the expiry date of applications and having not, reportedly, applied for the position. It cannot be as daring as it appears to be! If this is not blatant and glaring abuse of office and circumvention of appointing process, then there will never be any blatant and glaring abuse office by anyone let alone people Manake.
In the second report as alluded to above, an investigation on the conduct of Morakaladi while still BAMB CEO was simultaneously carried out by the DIS and the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President. Still resolute in seeing Morakaladi reinstated, Manake tried to influence the BAMB board to do as she wished to which the board to its credit, stood its ground and ignored the reports cited as per the Sunday Standard report that ‘….the board is constrained to provide substantive comments on the DIS report because of glaring issues which if viewed objectively, the report cannot be relied upon. Our understanding as the Board was that the DIS was to carry out investigations of impropriety/maladministration’.
Morakaladi’s contract was ‘dubiously’ terminated in February 2021 on account of corruption amongst others. Following the termination, he approached the Industrial Court to contest it. In the spirit of natural justice, immediate investigations to establish whether or not he had committed acts of corruption during the course of his term of office were more than paramount if not compelling. In fact, such investigations should have as a matter of course, been carried out before adverse decisions against him were taken. When he decided to take his employer head on in order to seek recourse, seemingly and frantically, caused Manake to get him reinstated to avoid the embarrassment of the shenanigans that led to his dismissal at the Industrial Court and probably to hide how her ministry bungled in big ways the whole process around the dismissal of Morakaladi.
The question of political leadership like Manake has for the longest time failed to observe its boundaries on matters of appointment of CEOs of State-Owned Enterprises leading in large measure to instances where such appointments unnecessarily take long to fill such positions. As a consequence, these enterprises operate for the longest time without either substantive CEOs or boards of directors. As I write, about ten of these enterprises operate without substantive CEOs the result of which is the compromised function and nature of taking crucial decisions for their proper functioning and achievement of their respective mandates. It is rather bizarre why Morakaladi was deemed incapable of leading BAMB in the first instance yet he is now deemed capable this time around. To be fair to him, he is caught in the workplace politics that has unfortunately become the DNA of the public service. Like I said above, why were allegations of corruption/maladministration levelled against him not urgently investigated as soon as they came to the fore such that their truthfulness or otherwise are quickly dealt with?
It is my considered brutal honesty that the President’s Reset Agenda will remain a bridge too far if people who hold and exercise public power like the Assistant Minister Beauty Manake continue to act in a reckless manner completely in conflict with the ethos contemplated in the Reset Agenda. The matter of Morakaladi is the case in point. I want to submit as I hereby do that had the corporate governance issues relating to the revocation of Morakaladi’s contract if there were compelling and genuine reasons to do so left completely to the board, the muddy waters the ministry finds itself firmly holed in would have been avoided. If the President selectively comes hard on those he deems anti the Reset Agenda and spares those who evidently are against it, I may as well dismiss the Reset Agenda as another populist programme bound to fall flat on its belly even before it is put into traction. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise as always. Judge for Yourself!
‘No one is safe until everyone is safe’. Let us all continue to adhere to all Covid-19 safety protocols not forgetting to be jabbed and receiving the booster shots. It is in our interests to do so.
