Gov’t cuts spending on former HEs
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday May 30, 2022 06:00
According to available budgetary records, the budget for the Office of the Former President has been declining ever since he stepped down, dropping from an initial P4.3 million to the P3.6 million the office will get in the current financial year.
The self-exiled Khama’s budget for his office has been chopped by more than half a million for the financial year 2022-2023, when compared to what he was allocated in the last financial year.
In his first year of retirement in 2018, Khama’s Office was gifted a handsome P4.3 million. The bulk of the budget was towards remuneration for the Office, with P948,960 earmarked for ‘basic salary’ and nearly P50,000 for different types of allowances.
The latest estimates show that the significant cut is on staff salaries and allowances in Khama’s office which stood at P2.6 million in 2020-2021 and now have only been allocated P1.6 million in the current financial year.
Khama has had a standoff with government regarding his staff, who include housekeepers and security officers.
Just recently, Local Government and Rural Development Minister Kgotla Autlwetse said one of the reasons for the feud between Khama and his predecessor Masisi is because Khama wanted more workers than prescribed by the law. Government has since reduced his housekeepers and security personnel.
In his first year after retirement, Khama was allocated P1.7 million for external travel and P145,000 for his internal trips. In the current financial year, his Office has been allocated P600,000 for external travel and P60,000 for internal trips.
The actual figures of how much Khama spent on external and internal travel in the last financial year have yet to be made available. However, the former president long left for South Africa without notifying government, suggesting he could be bearing his own costs.
Meanwhile the Office of Former President Festus Mogae has not been spared the budget cuts among the retired state leaders. The estimates show that Mogae’s office has a budget of P2.3million for the year 2022- 2023, a sharp drop from the P3.5 million he was allocated in the last financial year.
Salaries and allowances in Mogae’s office have been allocated about P1.3 million this financial year, more or less the same amount as was spent in the 2020-2021 financial year.
The actual amount used in the last financial year is not yet known, but the salaries and allowances provision under Mogae’s office had been allocated P2.3 million.
The former president’s office has been allocated P369,020 budgeted for his external travel for the current financial year and P88,760 his internal travels.