allAfrica.com: Botswana: Mogae's Civil Service Reforms (Page 1 of 2)

Just any leader would love to live an indelible mark in the minds of many people when leaving the office for whatever reasons.

Below, Mmegi looks at a few of the reforms in the civil service that took shape whilst President Festus Mogae was at the helm.

A few years ago, the government transformed what used to be the Customs and Excise into a robust Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) in line with the Southern African regional dynamics.

Botswana effected the changes at a time when the neighbouring South Africa and other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries had switched to the revenue authorities from the previous customs and excise.

The switch to the revenue authorities has given birth to a parastatal called BURS, which handles primarily issues of income tax, PAYE and other withholding taxes, Value Added Tax (VAT), customs and excise duty and others.

Ever since its birth, BURS has become very proactive to the extent that businesspeople evading tax continue to appear before the courts of law to answer for their misdeeds. The quasi government department has now grown 'sharp teeth' than ever before in its lifetime.

Another government department that seems to have transformed into an effective body under Mogae's government is the Directorate on Public Prosecutions (DPP). Previously, when it was the prosecutions division under the Attorney General's Chambers, it was more obscured. The DPP has apparently shed off its 'lackadaisical' image and 'lacklustre' approach to issues. It has become robust and proactive in the execution of its duties.

There could be isolated cases of officers of the DPP sleeping on the job but majority of the times they handle cases professionally. Probably, removing a good number of police officers from prosecution has given the DPP enough opportunity to run their department effectively and professionally.

In an endeavour to run some top government offices effectively, from the Office of the President to the Assistant Minister's office, private secretaries have been employed to beef up for the effective running of these offices. This comes at a time when majority of the government offices duly have public relations officers to communicate with both internal and external customers. This has helped reform some government offices, which were almost inaccessible before.

The private secretaries have helped enrich the abilities of the Cabinet members to effectively respond to question in Parliament and in Kgotla meetings rather than having to wait for a long time as the relevant officer struggled to find the right answers.

Mogae introduced the post of Legal advisor to the President when he appointed Sidney Pilane to the newly created job.

This came at a time when Mogae and his then Attorney General Phandu Skelemani (now Minister of Justice, Defence and Security) were at loggerheads over Magee's accusation that the AG had failed to advise him accordingly on matters relating to the issuance of the writ of the national elections previously, which nearly disenfranchised a lot of registered voters.

Mogae later settled the case out of court after Skelemani had challenged the Justice Mdabula Khumalo Commission findings of 2001.

The Attorney General had always been the chief government advisor until the thing changed with the creation of the other post at the OP. Another interesting development was the creation of the post of a Parliamentary Counsel to the National Assembly, shifting from the reliance on the AG.

This is seen by some people as a step towards enhancing the independence of the Legislature from the Executive branch.

It was also under Mogae that Botswana Economic Advisory Council (BEAC) was set up to duly advise government on pertinent economic issues. BEAC was amongst others set to help the government on the challenges facing Botswana's economy. It, however, had a fair share of its problems as in particular, there were some occasional rifts between BEAC and officers at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning who felt 'excluded' from some important processes.

About two years back, the government allowed the public sector worker organisations to unionise, which has transformed them from passive associations with limited bargaining powers to powerful unions. The voice of the public sector unions has become so powerful that it can be heard reverberating within the Government Enclave and outside as they continue articulating pertinent issues.

(2) Mogae's legacy on education

President Festus Mogae took over the reins in 1998, four years after Parliament had approved the Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE).

The RNPE recommendations looked at the entire education needs and how best the ministry could be improved. He, therefore, assumed the presidency at a time when there was a good foundation for him to turn the fortunes of the education system around.

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