New EDD could penalise unpatriotic civil servants

First introduced in 2010 through a presidential directive, the EDD requires all arms of government to purchase goods and services locally where they are “available, cost-effective and meet tender specifications”.

As the biggest customer in the country, the government’s procurement budget runs into billions of Pula each year and the EDD idea is to foster local industrialisation and value chains through procurement, thus helping diversification, employment creation, innovation, capacity and ultimately lowering poverty and the reliance on imports.