At a meeting with Members of Parliament (MPs) recently, BHC Chief Executive Officer, Reginald Motswaiso urged the legislators to consider amending the BHC Act, which was last amended in 1994. "In order for the corporation to operate more efficiently, it has become imperative for the corporation to diversify its revenue base and it has done this by taking on jobs from government departments and other agencies as well as undertaking commercial developments.
However, in order to operate efficiently under these changed circumstances, it has become apparent that some sections of BHC Act need amending to vest some powers in the board of directors rather than in the minister, so as to allow for speedy responses," he said. Among the decisions the BHC wishes it could make without the minister's approval are the raising of rentals and acquiring loans from financial lending institutions. The last time BHC increased rentals was in 2003, which Motswaiso felt has left BHC far below the market price. The corporation faces serious challenges of collection of rentals and instalments from clients who bought houses through the Tenant Purchase Scheme (TPS) and Step Ownership Schemes (SOS) and has introduced salary stop orders and direct debits for reliability.
