'Govt must walk the talk of the budget'

KENNETH BANDA
Correspondent | Tuesday February 12, 2008 00:00

 

This came out during a budget review dinner hosted by the Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM) here on Wednesday.

Participants expressed concern that while there had been a surplus for two consecutive years, there were a lot of unfinished projects outlined in the budget due to lack of capacity. Joseph Lisindi, the Divisional Manager responsible for HR at BCL Mine, said Government always announced a 'lot of interventions, yet there is little happening on the ground.'

He said there was need to build capacity in order to enable Government to carry out and complete its projects as laid out in the budget.

'The budget is good,' Lisindi said, 'but the age-old constraints are still there. The government must walk the talk (for a change).'

He said it was regrettable that key issues like diversification were always talked about in the budget while there was little progress on the ground. Lisindi warned that as it celebrates its economic growth, Botswana should not forget the impending recession in the United States which could impact negatively on the local economy.

He said 'too much bureaucracy' and unavailability of skills were hindering the flow of investment into the country. 'Setting up a business in Botswana is cumbersome,' he said. 'We have always talked about a one-stop-shop while other countries were setting up such facilities.

'What we see here is the tightening of the importation of skills into the country. This is a hindrance to investment.'

Crime was another problem. Lisindi said despite allocating a substantial vote for the Botswana Police Service (BPS) and the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), crime continued to escalate.

Another participant questioned the viability of a SADC free trade zone for Botswana when Zimbabwe was in the grips of an economic meltdown.

In response, a partner at Grant Thornton Acumen, Vijay Kalyanaraman, said this was a challenge the regional bloc had to face.

'Botswana is one country that has managed to reduce its tariffs,' Kalyanaraman said, 'but it is difficult to tell what is going to happen (regarding free trade within SADC).'

In his budget speech last week on Monday, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Baledzi Gaolathe, said a free trade area for the free movement of goods and services produced within the region would be established in August.

Businesspeople at the dinner wanted to know how the government would ensure that the ordinary person was economically empowered, particularly through investment. In answer, Kalyanaraman said the government could have a deliberate policy to reserve certain investment opportunities for citizens. 'It is not clear in the budget how the government will do it,' he said. 'But companies might be listed or put on a secondary market for citizens to buy shares.'

Lameck Chatora of Kgwebo Management Consultants wondered why there was a budget surplus when there were critical projects which had not been completed.

There was consensus among the participants that the government should increase police funding to fight the upsurge in organised crime which was becoming more sophisticated.

One businessman said the government had shown inconsistency in its attempted privatisation of Air Botswana. He said it was disturbing that the government had invited bidders for the purchasing of the national airline, only to turn around and stop the process.

'I suspect there is a tug-of-war going on within the government,' he said. 'They initially announced that Air Botswana would be privatised, then changed their minds.

'They are now talking about re-capitalising the airline. How does the government expect private companies to come in when they seem to have such a protectionist policy?'

He said when the government talks about major investments like the proposed glass cutting and the diamond processing plants, only multinational companies benefit.

The entrepreneur said in major projects, there are only crumbs for small to medium scale businesses.

The Francistown-based Regional Manager of BOCCIM, Elleen Van der Est, said it had become their tradition to review the budget after its presentation and that the views of the business community are forwarded to the government.