Public resources accountability declining � BIDPA study
Pauline Dikuelo | Wednesday June 17, 2015 15:44
According to the study, titled, ‘An analysis of Botswana implementation challenges’, even the office of the Auditor General (OAG) lacks the authority to enforce some of the decisions it makes in relation to poor management of public resources. The study further notes that several challenges have emerged as strong bottlenecks to optimal project implementation, leading to repeated malpractices. The challenges stated include increasing policy complexity, declining levels of accountability and lack of commitment to reforms.
“Lack of commitment to selected policy choices is emerging as an important challenge for project implementation. Government has increasingly created and adopted policies to which it does not adhere to,” reads part of the report.
In recent years, the OAG has reported imprudent accounting practices and maladministration at public institutions such as Air Botswana, Gaborone City Council and PPADB, among others.
Government projects that have been marred by cost overruns and delayed projects in recent years include Morupule B, Sir Seretse Khama International Airport and both the Francistown and Gaborone national stadia.
The OAG has also previously raised concerns over the effective monitoring and accounting of collections in some of the special funds that include the Alcohol Levy, the Public Debt Service Fund, the National Disaster Relief Fund, the Vocational Training Fund, Tourism Industry and Training Levy Fund.
BIDPA research fellows, Gape Kaboyakgosi and Keneilwe Marata conducted the study.
The notion of poor implementation and accountability as a problematic area was acknowledged in the country’s eighth National Development Plan in 2003, when government acknowledged that inadequate implementation capacity as one of the main bottlenecks in delivering services nationwide.
Twelve years later, in this year’s budget speech, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo decried poor project implementation and in particular, noted that government remains concerned about poor performance by some private contractors in carrying out government’s projects as well as the future cost of maintaining sub standard facilities.
The assessment of implementation challenges was also made by President Ian Khama in his opening speech at the 2012 National Business Conference where he stated that “our policy framework is good, but implementation continues to be a challenge on account of the regulatory framework and rigorous process.”
Another indicator of the concerns on the ineffectiveness of project implementations is the institutional transformation, notably the setting up of the government implementation coordinating office, that has been renamed the National Strategy Office.
The other implementation challenge identified in the study is the growing complexity of the economy, administration and society. Many implementation structures are ill suited to handle complexity.
“The result of this is that implementers focus overly on one cause or effect to the detriment of other equally important causes or effects of these policy challenges,” reads the report.
The study also notes that there is a declining credibility of the government’s ability to adhere to its policies, as there is lack of commitment to selected policy choices.