General Fisher�s X-factor is coming
Richard Moleofe | Friday March 18, 2016 14:07
I chose to bring in my opinion on this matter because Major General (Retired) Pius Mokgware who is now a member of parliament is pursuing a motion on the same issue.
The debate here brings us into focus with what Lieutenant General (Retired) Matshwenyego Fisher used to advocate for when he was commander. He was well known to give elaborate public speaking presentations on the X-factor. Many could not comprehend his line of thought. This was so because he was philosophical in his approach. This was a man who was more of an academic than a military commander. For that reason, his point never got across to his audience.
Mokgware is now simply bringing back to live that old argument that was transmitted to the politicians by an outsider. Now he is in government and knows how to persuade politicians to buy into his motion. However, Mokgware has widened the net to include the police and prison warders.
He has mentioned that the X-factor is a policy that is in use by the British military. Indeed it was introduced back in 1970 as a measure of compensation to the Armed Forces personnel whose work went beyond comparison with their civilian counterparts in the civil service. This work is done by a team of both military and civilians known as the Armed Forces Pay Review. This body provides independent advice on remuneration and other issues related to the service men and women.
The pay review body exists to maintain the interests of the military who by the way are not allowed to unionise as is the case in Botswana. While labour unions advocate for pay rise for their members at the Bargaining Council, this body works behind the scenes to maintain the interests of the military.
The British government has maintained that the X-factor be reviewed every five years and the last review was in 2012. This is done in order to keep their pay and allowances commensurate with those on the job market and the public service.
In the case of Botswana, members of the disciplined forces are not enjoying the same comfort of being represented by a body that has their interests at heart. In this country, the body that has the responsibility on these issues is the Defence Council. This body normally consists of BDF Commander, Minister of Defence, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry and two other additional members. All of them are very busy with their day-to-day jobs and the work of the Defence Council is often secondary to what they are engaged in on daily basis.
For the above reasons, the Defence Council is hardly ever available to deal with issues of defence and personnel. With the current parliament, it took a whole calendar year to get the body appointed. Besides that, even after the appointment, they seldom meet and that has caused a backlog of unresolved issues for the military personnel.MP Mokgware’s motion will help resuscitate the Defence Council and bring the issues of disciplined forces to the surface. For instance, issues that have to be adjudicated by this body go back as far as 1990 and they are still accumulating.What is good about this motion is that it is all encompassing and not only focussed at one security institution. This is the first time that parliament will debate a motion that has the police, the military and prisons’ department as a collective. Coming back to the issue of the X-factor, it serves several purposes and among them the factor helps boast the moral of security personnel. This is what this country needs now when taking into account the levels of demoralisation existing among our security personnel.
In Britain, the X-factor takes into account comparisons of what the military pay structure is versus the National Minimum Wage. The factor plays a big role in keeping and retaining necessary skills in the institution. At the moment, our security institutions are haemorrhaging badly because of the number of personnel who choose to vote with their feet. Retention incentives are needed now than ever. It is very expensive to train these people and allowing them to just walk away from these institutions is a very bad idea for our security and our economy as a nation.
These issues bring us back to the need for a Strategic Defence and Security Review. As a nation we no longer need to staff our security personnel from leftover human resource; that is people who have no other job choice. What is needed at the moment is to establish an all-encompassing board made of all the three security institutions. This must come as a follow-up to the adoption of the current motion coming to parliament. The commissioners must establish the percentage of the X-factor. At the moment it stands at 13% in Britain while it started at 5% at the initiation of the programme.
Before setting the percentage of the X-factor, salaries will need to be adjusted. If there is no proper salary adjustment, this will only serve to benefit those in the upper levels of the pyramid. This is important because the current 15% accommodation allowance is totally cock-eyed because of the low salaries in the lower echelons of the rank and file. This must take into account existing government inflation targets as well as making comparisons on graduates and undergraduates in the public service and private sector. A lot has been compromised in the past but now is the time to bring in those necessary financial incentives for those responsible for our safety and security.