Africa-Press – Botswana. Leader of the Opposition and MP for Maun North, Mr Dumelang Saleshando, has called upon government to break away from routine budgeting that sustains deficits and instead embrace bold, evidence-driven reforms that prioritize efficiency, accountability and inclusive growth.
Responding to the 2026/27 budget speech on Wednesday, Mr Saleshando said the current climate called for a need to shift away from diamond dependency toward strategic domestic resource mobilisation, innovation and economic diversification.
“In a time of fiscal pressure and rising youth unemployment, it calls for smarter taxation, digitised revenue systems, strong governance and oversight and targeted social protection that empowers rather than perpetuates dependency,” Mr Saleshando said.
The Maun North MP, who is also Botswana Congress Party (BCP) president, said there were, however, areas in which the opposition agreed with government, most notably the commitment to review the Public Finance Management Act and the Public Procurement Act.
“This admission that our core financial laws are outdated aligns precisely with our longstanding position and the findings of expert analysis. In fact, one of our youngest MPs, Comrade Tlhabologo Furniture, is actually in the process of submitting a motion for the domestication of the SADC Model Law on Public Finance Management,” he noted.
He added that they also welcomed the curbing of supplementary budgets, the centralising of Government Purchasing Orders (GPOs) and the reduction of non-essential procurement.
He further stated that the P1.85 billion dedicated maintenance fund, with its ban on virements, was a smart and targeted intervention to stop the decay of public assets.
The Leader of the Opposition also welcomed the shift in Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMME) financing philosophy. He described the commitment to move from collateral-based loans to a National Fund of Funds model as a visionary and necessary shift.
Furthermore, he expressed his impression of the turnaround at the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC), which cleared P698 million in arrears and boosted revenue by 31 per cent, calling it a ‘textbook case of focused operational reform.’
He also lauded the initiative of securing citrus access to 17 markets and achieving 390 per cent export growth, which he said demonstrated effective trade diplomacy.
While noting the positive developments, Mr Saleshando argued that significant issues remained regarding the governance system, corruption, mismanagement and lack of progress across various sectors.
“However, the ruling party leadership continues to say a lot but do very little about addressing the systematic governance deficits characterising service delivery in our country,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Maun North legislator called upon government to be prudent in its spending and adhere to the austerity measures it had introduced.
He expressed concern over the deficits accumulated over the years, noting that the statutory ceiling of 40 per cent of debt-to-GDP was at risk of being breached and recalibrated.
“Recurrent spending continues to soar, now at roughly P80 billion, while development spending remains stagnant around P23 billion. This means we are borrowing not to invest, but largely to sustain a growing wage bill and expanded social pledges,” he said.
