Boko, who was responding to the budget speech this week in Parliament, said he differs with the Botswana Congress Party (BCP)’s suggestion that the president should appoint a commission to carry out the task. “A presidential commission can only be instituted under the Commission of Inquiry Act, which vests all the powers on the president. The president alone decides who the commissioners are, the terms of reference, and whether the hearings are on camera or public. He can decide during the inquiry to terminate and at the end of the inquiry he can decide whether to share the report of the inquiry or whether to keep it,” Boko told Parliament.
He said when the outcome is ultimately delivered, he would not want the opposition to say he was usurping the whole process. Boko indicated that he wants the forensic audit to be conducted by an independent reputable international firm. He said the firm has a good track record and will be working at the highest level of competence, professionalism, and ethical integrity. President Boko said unlike in the past, where millions were spent to audit a single government department, this time it will be different because the audit will deal with the entirety of government. Boko emphasised that if this audit was to be done like in the past, billions of pula were going to be spent. “I am here thinking while one would feel that I am delaying, I am contemplating on how this could be done without costing us and also done in the highest of all standards,” he said.
Boko said the firm the government has approached has met them halfway looking at the government’s current poor financial status. “They have indicated that they will not go above P65 million and that they will audit 30 state-owned enterprises,” he further disclosed. Boko gave an example of how Angola recovered $30 billion after conducting a forensic audit. “We are not doing this to shine. Where money has been stolen we will find out. In this audit, there is what we call assets tracing where we are going to follow the trail of where money went. We will find that money and the intention is to recover it so that the funds can be brought here to do what it was supposed to,” the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) president pointed out.
The President who has been in power since November said the UDC was not making threats and planning to abuse anyone. “We are going after public funds and we want everything to be accounted for. This is a warning to some from the past regime and others who are still in government that if you don’t do things appropriately we will end up coming for your personal assets,” he said. Boko also said in about two weeks he will announce the commencement of the forensic audit. Bobirwa legislator Taolo Lucas had asked Boko if the government had budgeted for the audit and whether it would be done in the current financial year.
