The sharehoder compact, the Ministry says, “clearly articulates the strategic intent of the government to parastatals including strategic objectives, performance indicators and targets”. The idea is to ensure that input by way of funding and support is commensurate with outputs. The compacts are indeed music to the ears for all taxpayers both in terms of value for money as well as delivery by parastatals. And while the Transport Ministry oversees only a smidgen of the galaxy of parastatals orbiting central government, the latest initiatives are certainly a great leap in the right direction. For far too long, Batswana as taxpayers have been asked to carry the burden of loss-making parastatals which have – for all intents and purposes – operated in an atmosphere of apparent impunity.
In the last reported financial period alone, the Botswana Power Corporation recorded a P1.6 billion loss while the Botswana Meat Commission had a deficit of P233.5 million. Other parastatals such as Air Botswana, Botswana Postal Services and Water Utilities Corporation have also been in the red for years, and in fact, only the Botswana Savings Bank, BTC and National Development Bank reported surpluses in 2013. Other parastatals such as the Botswana Development Corporation have devolved from years of profit-making to borderline levels, evidently snowed under poor decision-making and possible corrupt practices.
