Khama�s P570m splurge
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday January 13, 2017 18:11
The decision to allot each constituency P10 million for community projects has caused fierce debate amongst the public.
Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) caucus spokesperson, Phenyo Butale said they once proposed something similar to what President Ian Khama said.
“UDC had proposed a constituency trust where management structures would be set. Again, there was need to interact with people for them to share on how this could be done,” Butale said.
He said if councils would be the ones managing the funds, then there would be likehood of mismanagement because at times councils fail to account for their own budgets.
He continued: “There was need for us to benchmark against countries that have already established those constituency trusts like Kenya.
The format in which the money should be used must be clear. If we are not careful then we will open up more room for corruption”.
Even though details are still sketchy, when Khama delivered the State of the Nation Address last December, he said, “Next year, you will see us rolling out yet another programme, which will embrace every constituency in the country in the form of community projects”.
He said this will increase the delivery of infrastructure at local level, while providing further income generating activities and employment opportunities and the supplementary programme will be overseen by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
At the time of his speech, the President had not stated the amount of money to be used in the new programme.
The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Slumber Tsogwane has since said the projects would not bring any new problems.
“There has always been concern that the money is not enough for projects.
The money will be used for smaller projects coordinated from councils,” he said.
Tsogwane said the money would be sourced from the budget to be allocated to ministries and departments.
However, it is not clear whether the government has set relevant structures to coordinate those projects and to account for such monies.
When the country celebrated its 50th anniversary, it had set up a committee called BOT50, which has since not accounted for money used during the Independence celebrations, where each district was supposed to pocket P1 million.
Over P100 million was used for the country’s golden jubilee.