He explained that an independent DPP budget from that of the AGC would enable the Director, as a warrant holder, to prudently and efficiently run the affairs of the Directorate without being overly reliant on what has been apportioned to the DPP. “It is therefore, crucial that there be de-linking of the DPP from the Attorney General’s Chambers with the result that the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions will have its own resources both financial and non-financial. Such de-linking will entail the amendment of the Constitution,” Ramaotwana said. Presenting to the Parliament Committee of Supply, he said de-linking is crucial because often what is allocated to the DPP through AGC is more often than not inadequate and depletes long before the end of the financial year. As a result, he said it leaves the DPP running short of funds to cater for court engagements as well as to attend court at places where the DPP does not have offices as yet.
Ramaotwana emphasised that the office of the DPP aspires to prosecute all criminal cases as per the powers conferred upon her by the Constitution including those that are currently prosecuted by the Botswana Police Service. “However, this ambition has been greatly impacted upon by an acute shortage of resources for the takeover project which is aimed at relieving the Botswana Police Service (BPS) of the delegated prosecutorial powers previously bestowed upon them,” he said. He stated that the takeover project was resuscitated in April 2021 and the plan was that it be completed by March 2025. However, the acute shortage of dedicated resources to this project, particularly manpower and the absence of the DPP in most areas where there are police stations and Magistrates’ Courts have negatively affected the attainment of sustainable results.
The minister stressed that it has now become even more urgent to review the project to determine whether it is feasible to continue with it without the provision of the necessary resources. He said the DPP has also not been sparred by the perennial high attrition of prosecutors and consequently, the prosecutors are saddled with high case ratios and it greatly negates their efforts to dispose of cases within a reasonable time which in turn results in backlog which is undesirable. On the challenges relating to the takeover project (prosecutorial), Ramaotwana lamented that it is further compounded by the high reduction of prosecutors. “This has resulted in an increased workload for prosecutors and therefore, affecting the timeous dispensation of justice as some cases then take too long to be completed. At this point, complete takeover has been achieved in the Selebi-Phikwe Magisterial District with six BPS stations,” he said. Ramaotwana mentioned that elsewhere, a total of 26 out of 79 BPS stations have been relieved of prosecutorial duties from the various DPP offices being seven in Gaborone, four in Lobatse, four in Francistown, two in Maun, three in Palapye, five in Kasane and one in Tsabong.
He said however, consultations with key stakeholders are on-going to ensure that delivery of justice is not compromised where the DPP has not yet taken over prosecution of criminal matters. “We are also in consultation with other stakeholders, in particular the Police to revisit the issue of delegating the DPP’s prosecutorial powers for non-complex cases in order to ensure that Justice is dispensed timeously through the completion of cases within a reasonable time,” he said. Ramaotwana said the linking was important because currently, on account of the administrative supervision of the DPP by the Attorney General, the office of the Director of DPP is budgeted for under the AGC, together with other four AGC divisions. He stressed that the set up results in the sharing of the already small budget with competing priorities within the chambers. On the proposed budget allocation for the AGC under the recurrent budget for the 2025-2026 financial year, he said the amount is P397 584 440, 00, which represents an increase of P36 969 190, 00 or 10% over the budget for the current year, amounting to P360 615 250, 00. “The bulk of the increase goes to salaries and allowances, gratuities for contract officers, and legal costs which grew from P43 043 000, 00 to P57 374 960, 00 to cater for escalating court cases in government and related outsourcing of legal services,” he said.
Ramaotwana noted that there has been an increase in criminal cases emanating from emerging legal concepts/areas in which the AG/DPP is under-resourced or lacks expertise hence the need to outsource to external senior or specialised legal counsel whose charges are on a higher legal fees scale (attorney-client). Ramaotwana told the committee that they are experiencing financial challenges regarding subsistence cost internal travel vote. He added that the amount allocated to the vote, P8 779 980, has resulted in funds being depleted as early as the second quarter of the financial year (September) and on average an additional P5 000 000 is transferred into the account annually. “We experience the above challenge in the main due to the extensive travel by officers of the DPP to areas where the DPP does not have offices, but there are courts to be serviced by such officers. Such extensive travel by prosecutors is unavoidable and is necessary for the rendering of prosecutorial services to the citizens,” he said. He said an effort was made to request for more funds but due to the economic outlook the request was not factored into 2025-2026 financial year.
