23rd September 2022
Own correspondent
The Minister Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Mmusi Kgafela has defended the restructuring of a number of state owned enterprises saying it was necessary for improved service delivery and complaining about overlapping of mandates and duplication of efforts.
“Rationalizing state owned enterprises and public entities in line with existing synergies will improve service delivery by creating centres where the public can get services, reduced costs to Government through better alignment of service delivery by ensuring a co-ordinated and harmonized use of resources and facilities,” said Mmusi Kgafela, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry.
He said, “Rationalising state owned enterprises and public entities in line with existing synergies will improve service delivery by creating centres where the public can get services; reduced costs to Government through better alignment of service delivery by ensuring a co-ordinated and harmonized use of resources and facilities.”
Following the Presidential Directive CAB 5SP (B)/2021 REV. 1 dated 30th March 2022, Government approved rationalization of State Owned Enterprises and Government portfolio responsibilities.
Some of the functions of the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry were transferred to the new Ministry of Entrepreneurship as follows:
Business Consultancy and Advisory Services;
- Business Counselling and Mentoring;
- Integrated Support to Small and Micro Enterprises;
- Fair Business Practices
- Co-operative development:
- Credit and Savings Co-operative Societies;
- Consumer Co-operatives Development;
- Agricultural Co-operatives; and
- Other forms of Co-operatives.
- Enterprise development and coordination;
- Small business development policy;
- Wealth Creation;
- Citizen Economic Empowerment; and
- Consumer Affairs, education and protection.
The remaining functions were placed under the renamed, Ministry of Trade and Industry with a redefined mandate of providing leadership and overall policy development, strategy and standards on trade and industry. The structure of the Ministry is in the final stages of approval.
The presidential Directive calls for the rationalization of State Owned Enterprises as indicated hereunder:
- Restructure Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) to provide loan financing to non-agricultural sectors based on approved lending thresholds within three months;
- Transfer the functions of SPEDU to Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) within 6 months; and
- Merge Botswana Investment, and Trade Centre (BITC), Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA), and Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) within a period of two (2) years.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry will provide leadership and overall policy development, strategy and standards on trade and industry. The Ministry also coordinates some national priority initiatives which include;
- Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) ;
- Economy and Employment Thematic Working Group (TWG) that comprises 14 Ministries;
- Trade Negotiations;
- Ease of Doing Business and Global Competiveness Initiatives; and
- Investment promotion and attraction.
In line with the above mandate, the Ministry will drive the following portfolio responsibilities:
- Botswana Investment Policy;
- Industrial Policy and Programmes;
- Domestic Trade;
- International Trade;
- Investment Promotion and Facilitation;
- Import and Export Control, Facilitation and Promotion;
- Administration and enforcement of Trading Laws;
- Bilateral, Regional and Multi-lateral Trade Agreement;
- Trade Fairs;
- Intellectual Property Management;
- Promotion of Trade and Business Linkages;
- Registration of Companies;
- Trade and Industrial Licensing;
- Trade and Investment Incentives; and
- Betting and Gambling Operations.
The Government however has failed to provide concrete empirical data supporting its rationalization exercise. Nor has it explained why it was sanctioning the unbundling of parastatals it had just established and had not been provided with adequate time to achieve its objectives.
A further concern on the ongoing restructuring exercise is that it paid little attention to the negative impact that poor leadership had on the performance of parastatals. It also ignores the contributory effect of underperforming employees on the pursuit of organizational objectives.
“We want to improve customer experience as customers will be getting related services from one entity reducing costs of accessing services and fatigue. This will create an enabling environment for the realisation of other priority areas as efforts will be coordinated for maximum gain. Coordinated efforts will also aid in improving service quality culminating in the realisation of the envisaged economic transformation and growth,” said Kgafela.
He said, “Rationalisation will also establish a more integrated and broad based service delivery system and enable agencies of Government to complement one another. The resultant coherence will enable these entities to truly drive Government’s initiatives of restructuring and reforming the economy and promoting greater private sector development.”
Kgafela said another key goal of rationalisation is to promote efficient use of economic resources by eliminating duplications. This is in addition to general cost savings, enhancing corporate governance and improving productive efficiencies among the current disparate and discrete functions of selected State Owned Enterprises and public entities.
Over the years Government has established a number of State Owned Enterprises (SOE) to regulate various sectors and implement policies. Further investigations revealed that Government Ministries and State Owned Enterprises had the same portfolio responsibilities and competing client base and/or programmes. Overlapping of mandates also existed which led to duplication of efforts.
Service quality was negatively impacted as customers did not see the right person the first time. Customers had to go from pillar to post to get the right service which had cost implications.
