- “I didn’t want the task force’s important work to be derailed by conflict of interest narratives”
LETLHOGILE MPUANG
Attorney Mboki Chilisa has resigned as Chairman of the Task Force reviewing the Development Manager (DM) model following allegations of conflict of interest levelled against him in certain quarters shortly after his appointment.
Some observers raised concerns about the impartiality of the review process if Chilisa was part of the process.
In an interview, Chilisa clarified that the allegations stemmed from his previous role as an independent non-executive director of a company subcontracted for one of the 178 projects under review.
Conflict of interest
“There was a narrative of a conflict of interest that developed within five minutes of announcement of my appointment,” he said.
“The conflict was said to have arisen from having being a director of an entity that is not one of the nine DMs but merely subcontracted for one of the 178 projects. So I didn’t want the important work of the task force being derailed,” Chilisa said.
But the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has defended Chilisa, stating he was never a director of Unik Construction Engineering (Pty) Ltd and had no operational influence over the company.
Introduced in 2022 under former president Mokgweetsi Masisi’s administration, the DM model was intended to streamline infrastructure development but has faced criticism for inefficiencies, cost overruns and poor management.
By December 2024, 70 of the 148 projects were suspended.
Foreign DMs
The programme, initially allocated P13 billion, saw costs exceed to P23 billion. Experts expressed scepticism about the government’s ability to manage such a large budget under the DM model.
One expert warned: “This is the first time the government is implementing a project of this magnitude. Entrusting it entirely to foreign DMs is risky, and if something goes wrong, it could collapse our economy.”
Meanwhile, the ministry has pledged transparency and accountability in finding a replacement for Chilisa who, despite his resignation, remains optimistic about the task force’s ability to resolve Botswana’s infrastructure challenges.