• BCP doubts his leadership amid current economic challenges
Botswana Congress Party (BDP) has accused the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) led government for mismanaging the economy under the watch of president Mokgweetsi Masisi, whom the BCP leader Dumelang Saleshando has described as a danger to the economy due to his reckless spending habits.
Saleshando during BCP media briefing said Masisi is a red flag for the economy and this is so because he continues to globetrot and attend events where government parastatals are taken in large numbers while government revenues are in declining trajectory.
“The way president Masisi does things, one would wonder if he doesn’t live in the same country just like his minister of Finance Peggy Serame. Masisi as the CEO of the country should be the most person to be concerned by the true reflection in the government. He is another big threat to our economy,” he said.
In addition, Saleshando said Masisi continues to splash money like nobody business condemning the large presence of government parastatals and ministries that setup stalls at Moshupa agriculture show last weekend. According to Saleshando, government departments should lead by example and cut unnecessary costs. “Instead, we see government being the one continuing to waste money. There has been a decision to suspend projects and tenders and that indicate how deep the country is on trouble. Also, what it is more worrying is how government want to hide information about economic performance. We might not yet see and uncover the worst economic situation regarding the government revenues,” said Saleshando.
Moreover, Saleshando said the tourism industry is doing better as compared to the diamonds industry but said the worst can happen for tourism if the MPOX Virus can find its way in Botswana as that would mean tourists from Europe will be reluctant to fly in.
Meanwhile, the BCP Secretary for Economic Affairs Dr Sennye Obuseng said the economy is in recession.
He said this is because the economy recorded zero percent growth in the first quarter of the year and that means that no positive growth could be expected in the second quarter.
According to Obuseng, the current BDP government administration has long missed opportunities to diversify the economy by tapping into other sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture to cut heavy dependence on minerals.
He also said government schemes such as Chema Chema are backfiring because money allocated to it could have made impact when it was invested in a way that could bring more viable economic returns to Batswana and the government as well. Chema Chema targeting informal sector is budgeted P500 million.
“When the economy is growing at zero level, this means that the country is in crisis. The negative effects of this could be that the investors would deem Botswana as not ideal for investment. The international creditors would also be not willing to borrow Botswana money as government revenue shrinks,” he said.
He said the under performance of the economy which is currently being felt could be prolonged if the natural diamonds market doesn’t rebound anytime soon and the demand for rough diamonds increase.
Obuseng said the economy need structural reforms and it could take a leap from Rwanda’s investment climate framework which is highly progressive and attractive to investors to setup businesses in Rwanda.
Amid the growing concern on the state of economy, Finance Minister Peggy Serame said the economy is expected to grow and improve next year, adding that government will closely monitor current situation. Serame said the government would not hasten to look abroad for borrowing so to stabilize the economy.