OP Urged To Drop National Projects From Portfolio
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Monday April 1, 2019 14:42
Member of Parliament for Francistown West Ignatius Moswaane said on Friday that project implementation and monitoring in all ministries has deteriorated resulting in government utilising only 34% of the development budget during the just-ended financial year.
Moswaane was quick to point out that it is disappointing that this happened under the watch of the highest office in the land, the Office of the President.
Moswaane said this has often cost government large amounts of money, needless delays and cost overruns. He stated that in the end, no one from that office could be held accountable because it is the office with highest authority.
“Just take away project implementation and monitoring from the OP because juniors can’t bring their superiors to task when projects are not delivered on time,” he said.
Moswaane expressed disappointment that whilst Parliament continuously approves large budgets for development by government, at the end of the financial year, large amounts of money is returned to the consolidated fund as projects either failed to take off or were not completed on schedule. He said this has stalled the growth of the economy.The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) legislator had asked the minister of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration Nonofo Molefhi during the minister’s question time if he is aware that project implementation and monitoring in all ministries has deteriorated resulting in government utilising only 34% of the development budget.
He asked, if so why then is that the case; what he is doing to remedy the situation and provide proof for such remedy; if he is aware that there are no service standards available in all government departments and if not in agreement, can the minister provide proof of such.
Moswaane had also wanted Molefhi to explain the cause of poor service delivery in all government offices and whether he will consider introducing a 13th cheque to public servants as motivation given that they face serious financial challenges, especially during the December/January period.
In response Molefhi admitted that implementation of government programmes and projects continues to be a challenge, with all projects experiencing cost overruns, delayed completion and being of poor quality.
However, he attributed these challenges to among others; lack of capacity in project management and technical skills across public service, poor performance of contractors, lack of integration of Monitoring and Evaluation into the broader public management practices and the linkages with planning, budgeting and public service management systems and litigation.
But he said the overall development expenditure stood at 58% as at January 31, 2019.
“Government is committed to strengthening project management, monitoring and evaluation structures in order to address the budget challenges.
As indicated in the 2019-2020 budget speech, government had approved the establishment of a National Project Management office.
The office will coordinate, provide strategic leadership on project management and best practices, project prioritisation, develop project management standards, processes and capabilities for effective and efficient delivery of projects across the public service,” Molefhi said.
At ministry and district level, he said, there will be ministry/district project management offices.