Moving BAMB, BMC to a new ministry is a wrong turn (COMMENT)

Government has made a decision to move the troubled Botswana Meat Commission and yet another struggling Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board to the new Ministry of Entrepreneurship. Government has not told the public in detail why the decision was taken. However, by the look of things, and basing on current prevailing challenges with the two parastatals, we are of the opinion that the move is ill-advised.

First and foremost, the entrepreneurship ministry’s core mandate is to drive and inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship, simple as that. We don’t see why all of a sudden, government believes this new ministry, with a shoestring budget, can be in a position to help bring these parastatals back to normalcy.

As we speak, BMC, which is a perennial loss making entity, is on the news for being elbowed out of the lucrative Norwegian market. The BMC, cannot pay farmers on time. The BMC, despite being the major export player in the beef market, still fails to make a profit. We strongly believe, the new ministry does not have the capacity to bring back the BMC to life, as its priorities are elsewhere.

Its full mettle, as a ministry, is yet to be tested. It has inherited LEA and CEDA, who are also under siege for failing to mentor and fund businesses. If fact, the decision to move the two parastatals under Minister Karabo Gare, has itself set the latter up for failure. For a long time, BMC has been under the agricultural ministry. We strongly believe the agriculture ministry has all the structure necessary to help BMC. The problem is with efficiency. Government should have solved these issue and not parachuted the parastatal into the entrepreneurial ministry, which, even as we speak, is yet to fine-tune its organisational structures.

BAMB is not doing any better. The fact that it is run by a caretaker Chief Executive Officer shows there are emerging and old challenges to address. As you read this, consumers, whose pockets have been further dented by COVID -19 are struggling to buy sorghum which is a staple food. Its price have shot by double, partly because farmers are not producing enough. In fact, the price of a 10 kg sorghum is not far from that of rice of the same quantity.

Amid all these, the government finds it fit to move this important corporate to a new ministry which is still finding its feet. BAMB too, is struggling to get sorghum and other staple foods from farmers. In fact, farmers are finding it fit to sell to private players since BAMB does not offer competitive prices, some say. Government should support BAMB, which itself will be in a position to empower farmers to grow more and feed the nation. BAMB should have been left at the agriculture ministry, where, like we have mentioned before, there are proper, yet inefficient structures which need to be rectified.

The two corporates, complement each other. They are better placed with the previous ministry. As we speak, the above challenges are not being solved correctly because, BAMB and BMC services, are housed under two separate ministries with total different mandate. We believe this transition should be halted, more still it was done through a directive, we are told. Let us not play political expediency and address matters of national interest on sober minds.