Corruption is an enemy of economic development

Corruption is an enemy of economic development and should be fought from all corners,
says Assistant Minister for State President, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu. Addressing Francistown
residents during African Anti Corruption Day on monday, he said corruption was a hindrance
to the social, economic and political development of any given country. “It steals the citizen’s liberties and negatively impacts on livelihoods.

Corruption also increases the cost of doing business,” he said.
Assistant Minister Mthimkhulu said good governance was the bedrock of economic development.
Public institutions must therefore be accountable, transparent, responsive, effective, and efficient in the delivery of services, he said.

Mr Mthimkhulu said the stated principles were central to both the UN and African Union
convections on preventing and combating corruption as well as Africa’s Agenda 2063.

He urged Batswana to fully take part in the fight against corruption stating that it was the
world’s common enemy. Fluid by nature, corruption had the tendency of becoming a crossborder
crime where criminals carried out criminal activities in one country and hid in another to
enjoy the fruits of their crime, he said.

The assistant minister said the world needed to continue on the commitment trajectory by
formulating robust, intelligent and relevant policies. Government, he said, remained
steadfast in its commitment to various protocols and conventions which it demonstrated through
continual improvement of Botswana’s legislative framework. Mr Mthimkhulu said government was setting out its developmental agenda and implementing transformational policies for the betterment of all
the people. On the anti-corruption day, he said it offered yet another opportunity ‘to open our eyes to
an alternative view of the world that is devoid of corruption’.

Mr Mthimkhulu said the day
was designated to reflect on approaches to end corruption. He said Botswana, through
the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, started commemorating the day in 2019.

That, he said, was in line with the Reset Agenda which promoted stoppage of all which
was not working and coming up with initiatives which would bring desirable results.
In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Pepukae Makambe of Francistown’s Monarch location
also underscored the need to tackle corruption from all angles. He said corruption was evil and
should never be entertained. Kgosi Makambe said where corruption thrived, poor people
bore the brunt as it denied them their rightful share of economic resources and they ended up
becoming poorer. “This is not a state of affairs we wish to see our people in,” he said.

Kgosi Makambe said corruption had devastating effects on the country and was also a threat to development, weakened democratic institutions, undermined the rule of law, destroyed public trust
and allowed organised crime to thrive. He described corruption as an insidious scourge that brought
misery to many countries ‘and we are all affected by the consequences of this manace’.

Kgosi Makambe appealed to everyone to play a role in combating corruption. “When we all play a role
in combating this evil called corruption, we will all enjoy the results and this will be beneficial
to today’s generation and for many generations to come,” he stated. As part of the commemoration activities, Assistant Minster Mthimkhulu unveiled an anticorruption billboard at Old BMC circle. BOPA