Mammoth task for Statutory Bodies and State Enterprise Committee

Dithapelo Keorapetse | Friday June 26, 2015 17:31

Monday before it resumes again sometimes in August. The eight member committee, chaired by Tati East Member of Parliament (MP) Guma Moyo, examined books of accounts of three parastatals; Water Utilities Corporation, Botswana Power Corporation and Statistics Botswana. The three institutions have serious issues and perhaps that is why the committee started with them. On Monday the Committee will call its last witness in respect of Statistics Botswana before winding up for now. In August, the committee is expected to call other parastatals for examinations. All seven Members of the committee attended albeit sporadically, especially for the ruling party Members. It could be that  their early July elective congress is around the corner and some MPs are busy campaigning for positions or assisting their preferred candidates with their central committee ambitions.

According to Standing Order 110.1, the Committee consist of a Chairperson and seven Members and 110.2 provides that it shall examine the accounts of every statutory body which is required by law, to be laid before the National Assembly and such other accounts of statutory bodies laid before a Minister of the Government as required by any written law as shall be decided by the National Assembly. It is also the duty of the Committee to examine the accounts of any statutory body in the exercise of its oversight function. It has the mandate to examine the accounts of any company wherein the government is directly or indirectly a sole equity stakeholder and the accounts of any agency of the Government. The Committee also has jurisdiction over trusts, any body corporate of the Government and any state enterprise of the Government of Botswana.

In its examination of the books of accounts of the aforesaid bodies, the Committee takes into account the report of the Auditor General, executed pursuant to statutory provisions, and the audit reports of duly appointed external auditors, and management letters. The Committee also carries and conducts examinations of management performance and value for money reports. Like almost of Parliamentary Committees, the Committee has the power to send for papers, persons and records, and move from place to place. It also holds its proceeding in public unless the House or the Committee itself determines otherwise. Upon completion of its work it reports the results of its examinations to Parliament.

The Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises Committee is somewhat a version of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In fact PAC had to be split to create the Committee because it was heavily laden. Some members of the PAC are also Members of the Committee on Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises. Both Committees are resourced by the Auditor General, the Accountant General and the Attorney General as technical advisors. Looking at the mammoth task of the Committee, it has to be resourced with more MPs, to at least 10 like the PAC and given more incentives. Examinations of the books of accounts for the aforementioned entities is tough, in-depth and mind engaging exercise which requires full attention of everybody involved. Parliament of Botswana should be further bureaucratised with experts to assist this and other Committees. Furthermore, MPs sitting allowances in these Committees should be reviewed to mitigate truancy, erratic attendance and general lackadaisical attitude. Most MPs won’t sit the whole day for weeks for the peanuts paid as sitting allowance and it is only those that look beyond the allowance who will sit through to completion of the tasks of these Committees.

The Government has lost a lot of money through parastatals which aren’t profitable. Some are entangled in corruption, economic crimes, mismanagement and unethical governance. Some have abdicated their social mandates in favour of profits mandates; their services and product are sold to citizens at exorbitant prices. Other state entities have become extremely useless to an ordinary Motswana whilst others must be sold or closed. Some of these parastatals are run like personal properties by their CEOs and executive managements and whistle blowers and other concerned citizens are giving up any hope that something will be done. Some boards of these corporations don’t know what is going on whereas some have been rendered useless. Batswana expect MPs to ask probing questions about these entities. Through the Committee on Statutory Bodies and State Enterprises, Parliament as a body that authorises huge amounts of money in subventions to these entities, must ask for accountability and transparency. There are high expectations on the Committee to find out why our parastatals are always on the news for the wrong reasons.