Govt works on citizen economic empowerment law

| Friday April 6, 2012 00:00

The law will facilitate the process of giving Batswana a larger stake in the economy. The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo, revealed on Monday that after approval by Parliament, the policy will commence and an assessment of any further improvement, including a need for enactment of a citizen economic empowerment law, will be made on the basis of experience gained during implementation.

Matambo told Parliament that a consultancy report identified a need for the development of an overarching CEE policy instead of a law to address issues raised in the study. 'My ministry has since developed a draft CEE policy, which was approved by Cabinet on February 2012 subject to some improvements to be submitted to cabinet for final endorsement. This will be made on the basis of experience gained during implementation,' he said.

Matambo said Botswana is positioning herself as an investor-friendly country and wants to create an enabling environment for all private sector businesses. The existing citizen economic empowerment schemes and programmes did not require an act of Parliament to give Batswana an opportunity to participate in the economy and to be accorded preferential treatment.

However, Matambo said his ministry engaged a consultancy to undertake a review of the citizen economic empowerment programmes and policies and advised on the way forward. He said that the ministry is not aware of either the groundswell of public opinion calling for the enactment of a citizen economic empowerment law as alluded to by members of parliament or the source of information to support the statement.

'As I said, if during implementation of the CEE Policy it is determined that there are constraints that could be addressed through legislation, then such legislation will be considered at that stage,' he said.