I do not wish to react to every artice about me and my stay at the Council, as I would have had to react to many such. However, I am forced to respond to this one for, in every respect, it portrays myself and my former Chairperson, Dorcas Makgato-Malesu, who is now Honourable Minister of Trade as extravagant, irresponsible and unscrupulous individuals who could not apply their minds to issues; especially the one under discussion.The merits of the headquarters' temporary relocation to the Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) building are deliberately omitted from the article; other than to state that my administration hailed the move as Òa step in the right direction... that would enhance our corporate imageÓ. This would never be a prime reason for a relocation, independent of other factors.
For the record, the move to the BOBS building was a product of the affiliates empowerment scheme exercise that was concluded at the end of 2004 under the chairperson of Daniel Tau (then vice chairman of the Council), which exercise recommended that "...that resources permitting, office space and staff should be a given; i.e. every affiliate should be supported in these two areas if programmes are to take off in the direction and at the speed they are desired to".The search for office space then started to meet this recommendation, culminating in office space being found at the BOBS Building after a long and frustrating search. It needs to be mentioned here that the BOBSÕ rates and terms were the most favourable we could ever come across, with furniture provided for free in most of the offices; sothing that we should be grateful for.
