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BMC, Air Botswana, BotsPost default on P618m gov’t loans

Trying times: The Botswana Meat Commission has struggled to stay afloat in recent years PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE
Trying times: The Botswana Meat Commission has struggled to stay afloat in recent years PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), Air Botswana and BotswanaPost headline a list of parastatals struggling to pay government loans, with their collective debts last measured at P618 million.

According to the Auditor General’s latest report, which covers the year to March 2021, BMC owed government P248 million while the national airline was on the hook for P230 million and BotswanaPost P140 million.

In all three instances, the loans were made from government’s Public Service Debt Fund and date back several years. Bank of Botswana records show that BotswanaPost’s debt to government dates back to 2014–2015 and has gone without any repayments since then, while the BMC’s comprises two separate loans dating back to the 2019–2020 financial year. Air Botswana’s loan dates from 2018–2019.

Editor's Comment
No room for perjury

It seems some government accounting officers, sworn to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing else but the truth" before Almighty God, may have deliberately lied during the committee’s vital work. If proven, this is not merely unprofessional; it is perjury, a serious criminal offence and it strikes at the very heart of responsible government.The PAC’s role is fundamental. After each financial year, it painstakingly examines how public...

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