Botswana spends big on soldiers

Staff Writer | Friday June 18, 2010 00:00

 

The Botswana government bought equipment worth P28m ($4m) in the years between 2005 and 2008. The report, however, excludes procurement of military systems between the Botswana government and entities other than the US government such as private organisations.

Major military trade occurs largely between private companies and governments, rather than government to government.

'The report provides background data on US arms sales agreements with and deliveries to its major purchases during the calendar years 2001-2008,' says the report. The top customers of US military wares are divided according to region with Botswana falling fifth in the African region.

Between 2005 and 2008 Botswana acquired $4million in military hardware from the US government, while for the year 2008 it bought about P7.1m or US$1 m worth of military material.

'Current US law and regulations do not require US companies to provide, routinely and systematically, data on arms sales agreements actually concluded with foreign purchasers resulting from commercial licenses authorised by the US State Department,' elaborates the report.

The top of the list is Kenya at $30 m, followed by Djibouti ($18m), Ethiopia $12m) and Senegal ($4m)According to the same report, Nigeria topped the buyers on the continent for the period 2001 to 2004 with $30m, followed by Kenya ($18m), South Africa ($12m), Djibouti ($11m) and Guinea ($3m). In another report released early last year, Botswana was reported to have spent US$ 127,124 for the first nine months of 2009 on US military wares and services.

Critics of government have often complained that the country spends excessively on the military, while proponents of the status quo argue that it is inevitable that such spending is incurred given the small population of the country. Botswana, on a per capita basis, seems to spend more on the military.

In 1999, the country was ranked 98th in military spending out of a total of 167 countries, while its army remains one of the smallest in the world at about 8,000 in 1999.

In the same year, Botswana imported about P284m or $40m worth of military equipment, positioning it as the 65th biggest importer in the world, exceeding such regional countries as Namibia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.Botswana also has one of the highest military 'expenditure versus gross national product' rates at about 4.7 percent.

A Botswana soldier, according to the report, costs more with each serviceman or woman costing on average $29,600 a year or P210,000 annually. Some of the biggest spenders per soldier are the United States at P1.3m or $189,000, Japan $180,000 and the United Kingdom at $167,000.

Botswana spends just slightly more than South Africa on each soldier. The South Africans spend $28,900 on each trooper.