Kgosidintsi said the partnership has great advantages for Botswana, as the host country, in areas like creating employment. She added that the three partners recently signed a 2010 strategic plan and therefore there are no chances of any of them pulling out. She said IDM is a prestigious body recognised by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and international donors. Kgosidinstsi was responding to allegations from some employees of IDM who were complaining that maladministration is rife at the institution. They said the government is losing a lot of money through IDM and called on Botswana to pull out.
However, Kgosidintsi explained that government does not lose anything in the operations of IDM. "The three governments pay an equal amount as subvention to the institute for running the regional office. The money is deposited directly into the Regional Office Account," she said. The three governments paid P1.1 million in the past year. This will go up by 15 percent in the next financial year.
Kgosidintsi said that the campuses in the three countries are self-financing from the sale of their services like training, consultancies and research. "Botswana does not send money to any of these campuses including the Botswana campus. The government however provides physical infrastructure for the Botswana campus in line with the memorandum of association of the company," Kgosidintsi said.
She defended herself from accusations that she travels frequently to the Lesotho and Swaziland campuses to earn money through allowances and per diems. She explained that as regional director, she has to attend board meetings, campus visits, recruitment meetings and court hearings in the three countries. In the last financial year, she spent P38,200 in travelling expenses. Kgosidintsi said staff are complaining about how their back-pays from July 2005 was calculated yet they were given letters explaining the matter with the advice that they should seek clarification from the management if they have any queries. "Staff were also given a salary and notch structure as additional information to ensure clarity," she said.
The appointment of a country business manager and principal consultant at the institution has raised eyebrows among the IDM staff who say there was favouritism. One employee claimed that one of the positions was created for a friend while the wife of a Permanent Secretary was favoured for another post. Kgosidintsi dismissed the allegations as baseless saying that the appointment of the wife of a PS as the country business manager was done by an independent human resources consultant who shortlisted applicants to the IDM board. "The interview panel comprised representatives from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland in line with IDM policy," she said. She added that the board selected a suitable applicant using the agreed criteria. She denied appointing anybody for the position of principal consultant saying the process is still going on.
