Laxity in public service must stop!

The Monitor Editor | Tuesday February 28, 2023 06:00

The report screams that a lot is not being done properly in government offices costing the taxpayer millions of pula. The core business of the Office of the Auditor General is to provide an audit service to government ministries and departments, local authorities, Land Boards, and selected parastatals and thereafter submit the findings to Parliament, Councils and Land Boards respectively.

The Auditor General’s Annual Report is the main output of the office and is a reflection of cumulative effort over the year. The Auditor General’s latest report, covering the year to March 31, 2021, was tabled in Parliament last week and continues the shocking revelations of widespread wastage, corruption, abuse, and failure to account involving millions of pula around the country’s response to COVID-19.

The Auditor General’s first published snapshot into the multi-billion pula Economic Stimulus Programme indicates that millions of pula were misspent through poor artisanship, inefficient procurement, and abuse of loopholes.

These are not the only issues, as it would seem like even in the day-to-day running of government ministries, departments, and parastatals, the taxpayer is bleeding millions as the same challenges are always experienced.

We call on President Mokgweetsi Masisi and all stakeholders to do away with this condition of inefficiency. The whip ought to be cracked on accounting officers who cannot crack the whip on their juniors. It is high time officers are made to account for some of their errors that cost government where negligence can be proven.

The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, Botswana Unified Revenue Service, Directorate of Intelligence and Security, Financial Intelligence Service, Police, and all other authorities with investigating powers should do more to curb criminals in the public service. Year in and year out, legislators probe the contents of the audit report and more through standing committees. However, it would seem these committees are toothless as all that happens is legislators grilling them, but there is hardly any action taken.

These committees should be empowered to intervene and help stop the rot. When corruption happens, there is always someone who knows of it. We urge Batswana to stop harbouring corruption and report to authorities when things happen. The millions or even billions of pula going to waste due to mismanagement could be useful in so many ways for the country. The more corruption takes from us, the more life will get expensive and unmanageable. It is, therefore, vital for us all to play our role and nip corruption in the bud.