Masisi shakes up ministries, parastatals
Mbongeni Mguni | Monday April 25, 2022 06:00
In a televised address, Masisi announced the creation of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, while mandates of other ministries were either merged or moved within Cabinet. The new Cabinet has 18 ministries, which is the same number as the previous Cabinet.
Major changes to the Cabinet ministries include:
*A Ministry of State President responsible for corporate services for the Presidency, oversight over District Administration coordination offices, Government Media and Information Services as well as Public Service Management
*Office of the President taking over the mandate of organisation and coordination of government business. The Office of the President will also feature a National Planning Commission that will be responsible for national development planning and prioritisation of policies and projects. The Commission’s functions remove the “development planning” planning mandate of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development
*Ministry of Justice to “singularly entrench the sacrosanct independence of our Judiciary and enhance the institutionalisation of good governance and the rule of law”
*Ministry of Communications, Knowledge and Technology to spearhead the national aspirations of transforming into a knowledge-based economy
*Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs which merges the “Employment, Labour Productivity” mandate with the “Employment, Labour Productivity” of the former ministries
Masisi said the changes would be with immediate effect and administrative heads of the ministries are responsible for organisational design and development.
“The duplication and overlaps of portfolios were eliminated, reporting relationships of portfolios for more effective coordination were reviewed, the functional load of the Ministry for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration as the apex Ministry was reviewed and appropriate nomenclature of portfolios was recommended,” he said. “The overall government structure was reconstituted. “These reforms will translate into enhanced service delivery, accountability and good governance for all the people of Botswana.”
Masisi also announced a string of parastatal mergers and planned privatisations. These include merging CEDA and the Local Enterprise Authority into one entity, merging the Botswana Digital and Innovation Hub and the Botswana Institute of Technology, Research and Innovation as well as merging the Botswana National Productivity Centre with the Botswana Public Service College.
SPEDU will be incorporated into the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), to be followed by combining all of the investment promotion activities of BITC, the Special Economic Zones Authority and the Botswana Tourism Organisation into one entity.
Privatisations include Botswana Savings Bank, the Botswana Accountancy College, National Development Bank, Botswana Meat Commission and the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board. Banyana (Pty) Ltd will be wound up with ownership of the farms transferred directly to government.
“Some of these changes involving the state-owned entities will require amendments to or the repealing of existing legislation, which will inevitably take some time,” Masisi said. “In the meantime, actions that do not require statutory reforms will be implemented without delay.”
In January, Mmegi exclusively reported that a special retreat of Cabinet had been held before the festive season to plot the ministerial changes and secure ministers’ input into the plans being made. At the time, authoritative sources said the over-arching goal of the changes was to align Cabinet and its mandates to the RESET Agenda, which Masisi is championing to deliver on economic transformation, job creation and the promises of the 2019 election victory.
Parastatal reforms have been on the cards for years, with former Finance Minister, Thapelo Matsheka announcing in February 2021 that the plans would be finalised by July of that year.
The parastatal rationalisation exercise forms part of a broader civil service reform programme first proposed more than a decade ago.