'Abuse of office' clause wins Masisi pat on back

GOTHATAONE MOENG
Staff Writer | Friday March 29, 2013 00:00

The new section is provided for by the amended Corruption and Economic Crime Act, which is before Parliament for a second reading this week.

In his debate supporting the amendment bill, Boteti North MP Slumber Tsogwane said on Tuesday that the provision of the new section would do a lot to help curb the problem of abuse of office in the country. 

Tsogwane said the new section would also 'close the gap' that the old Act could not, as the previously DCEC was not mandated to investigate abuse of office.

While, the amendment bill recognises that abuse of office is currently criminalised under the Penal Code, Education and Skills Development Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, who was presenting the bill for Minister Mokgweetsi Masisi, submitted that it makes sense that abuse of office be provided for under the Corruption and Economic Crime Act.

'I submit that abuse of office is - for all intents and purposes - an act of corruption and it therefore only makes sense that it be provided for under the Corruption and Economic Crime Act,' she said.

Supporting the bill, Selebi-Phikwe West legislator Gilson Saleshando said the new provision would go a long in curbing abuse of office. 

He said abuse of office was becoming rampant because of Botswana's current economic climate in which there is no creation of sustainable jobs. He added that in such a climate, people in positions of power, or positions to hire, only employ relatives and friends. 

Saleshando also cautioned against the Director General of the DCEC, which is the title that will be used instead of director if the bill passes, being appointed by the President.

Francistown South MP Wynter Mmolotsi hoped the new corruption law would not just be used for local companies, saying that in the past, local contractors had been demonised, which contributed to the dearth of local construction companies. The new amendment bill seeks to redefine 'public body' to the extent to which it relates to companies, by removing 51 percent or more of equity shares owned by government and replacing it with any percentage of shareholdimg by government. 

This will empower the DCEC to pursue private companies in which government has a stake.  The bill also empowers the minister to prescribe a disciplinary code of conduct for DCEC employees, and introduces a section that will protect the disclosure of identity of persons by DCEC personnel.

Another new section in the bill criminalises trading in influence, in which a person uses his or her influence to sway certain decisions in favour of his or her friends, family or companies in which they have interests.