Ignore flattering judgement by TI on Botswana

Mmegi Editor | Wednesday December 14, 2016 11:36

Khama added that to further strengthen our zero tolerance commitment to fighting corruption, the Whistle Blowing Act, which provides protection for those who help expose abuses, was approved in July 2016.  It has become a norm that our SONA would be incomplete without quoting dubious TI reports. How this organisation arrives at these findings, especially about Botswana remains a myth. TI says it gives a voice to the victims and witnesses of corruption. It also claims that it works together with governments, businesses and citizens to stop the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals. But their methodology about exposing corruption is unclear.  Despite these continued misinformation, many Batswana have resigned themselves to believing corruption is institutionalised. Just peep into the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) procurement to just know what institutionalised corruption is.

This is one institution, whose millions of pula, if not billions, tenders go to one family network of businesses. Does TI condone secrecy in how those tenders were and continue to be allocated? Does it accept that it is okay for the then leadership of the army to benefit from the same deals that the BDF was involved in? This organisation has the nerve to tell the whole world that Botswana is the least corrupt country in Africa.

Has TI never heard about Bot50 tenders and how one company was fraudulently allocated more than P7 million without a tender? Bot50 committee admitted that this was fraud, but TI turns a blind eye. What about corruption and nepotism that the Samson Moyo Guma-led Parliamentary Committee exposed at the Tourism ministry?  The recent government’s decision to shut down BCL Mine is another example. 

There are reports that three companies have shown interest to buy BCL Mine. We wonder if it’s not justa matter of time before we know who in government is going to benefit. These are examples of corruption taking place under the nose of TI. We just have to wonder about the organisation’s motive for turning a blind eye to the rot in Botswana.

The less we talk about Whistle Blowing Act and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime the better. Our humble submission is that TI is misguided in its rankings on Botswana and we must ignore that flattery judgement.

 

Today’s thought 

“Corruption is a hard cane that beats hard on a nation with deaf ears.” 

– Chukwuemeka E. Onyejinduaka