Mmegi

BETP: Gamechanger or new wine in old skins?

Troubled delivery: Implementation has been the proverbial monkey on the back of the country’s development planners over the decades PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO
Troubled delivery: Implementation has been the proverbial monkey on the back of the country’s development planners over the decades PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

The new BETP, its results-first focus and transformative projects, is just the injection the economy needs. However, because it still relies on the public service architecture, will it become like overhauling the engine of a long broken-down vehicle which is sitting on bricks? MBONGENI MGUNI looks at the issue

Every time President Duma Boko speaks, his strategic direction in terms of the agility and dynamism of the public service is clear. With urgent budget and economic challenges banging on his door, a short few years to accomplish them and the ever-louder demands of an impatient electorate, the President is a man on a mission.

The private sector is primed to not only help, but if allowed to, willing take the lead in transforming the economy in the medium to long term, as Business Botswana reiterated this week. Foreign investors, from whom Boko has hinted could be the source of $600 million in just a year, are equally comforted by the country’s stable institutions, A-grade credit ratings and massive potential.

Editor's Comment
Don't let FMD outbreak drag on

Acting Agriculture Minister, Edwin Dikoloti, is right in saying opening an export-ready facility whilst Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is still spreading would risk getting the whole country blacklisted before a single carcass leaves the door.A ban like that would break the already stressed nation. So, the postponement, painful as it is, is the right thing to do. The local economy is being squeezed from both ends. FMD has already slammed the door...

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