- The BDP has dismissed Mohwasa’s criticism, claiming UDC offers no better solutions, as NDP12 aims to tackle past administration’s shortcomings
BONGANI MALUNGA
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has responded to the Minister for State President Moeti Mohwasa’s criticism of their systematic failures by asserting that the Umbrella for
Democratic Change (UDC) has not demonstrated better alternatives.
Mohwasa outlined the Draft National Development Plan (NDP12) before Parliament vowing to address the “failures” of the previous administration.
In his Monday presentation, he criticized BDP’s approach to national projects, describing
it as a hindrance to development.
“I must highlight that the Government is intentional about addressing failures of the past BDP Government experienced in implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. We intend to transform mechanisms, frameworks, structures, processes, and systems that have prevented achievement of results,” Mohwasa stated.
NO ALTERNATIVES
Reached for comment, BDP Secretary General Kentse Rammidi told The Botswana Gazette that the UDC government’s approach of trying to “one-up” the BDP on their systems demonstrates that the ruling party has no immediate alternatives.
“The approach will not bear any fruits. Trying to fix or calibrate a piece of equipment that you did not design or you are not trained to fix will be a total disaster, Rammidi said.
“Our expectation was they will design their own systems, totally divorced from our systems. It just shows our systems were intact and were just frustrated by those charged with executing. We will be better placed to correct them because we designed them.”
CHALLENGES
According to Mohwasa: “Over the past three development plans under the last government, the country encountered significant challenges in relation to poor execution
of National Development Plans, especially regarding policies, strategies, programs and projects”.
“Some of the challenges identified include amongst others: poor project implementation
and service delivery, lack of quality data for evidence-based decision making, low levels of performance and Insufficient resourcing, both human and financial,” Mohwasa explained.