BG correspondent

The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) members in parliament are expected to take advantage of their numerical numbers to reject the 2007/08 Public Accounts report tabled before parliament last week.
MP for Gaborone South, Kagiso Molatlhegi this week noticed a motion calling for parliament to reject the report, as it is an abuse of process. The legislator’s motion reads, “That this Honourable House resolves that the Report of the 47th Meeting of the Public Accounts Committee for the Financial Year 2007/2008, which was tabled on the 21st of July 2010 be rejected as is (sic) an abuse of process.”  It will be tabled soon. 
In an interview with the Botswana Guardian, Molatlhegi said he would brief his colleagues in the BDP about the motion next week Thursday. “I think it will be not wise to talk about the motion in the media before I brief my colleagues,” he said. The Public Accounts Committee chaired by MP for Tati East, Samson Guma last week tabled a hard hitting report, which revealed how funds amounting to P26 million were illegally diverted from the National Disaster Relief Fund for use by the Directorate of Intelligence and Security during financial years, 2007/08 and 2008/09. The money was allegedly diverted without the authority of the Permanent Secretary to the President, who is the Accounting Officer nor the Minister of Finance and Development Planning.
Further the committee found that the Ministry of State President used P16 million from the fund for a purpose other than that for which the fund was established and without authority. The State President ministry set up DIS in the course of financial year 2007/08. “As there had been no budgetary provision for this purpose, the ministry had to scout for funds somewhere else.” 
The report states that in October 2007, the then chairman of the Task Force which had been set up to determine and identify the need to establish the National Intelligence Agency wrote to the then Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Phandu Skelemani requesting funds to establish DIS.  “In his request, he indicated that the Director, Ministry of Finance had advised that the amount of P13 million could be availed from the NDRF,” the report said.
On depletion of the P13 million, the report says the chairman of the task force wrote again to the same minister in 2008 requesting for a further P3 million.  Guma’s committee notes that both the then Minister of Defence, Justice and Security and the Director, Ministry of Finance, who were party to the expenditure, had no authority whatsoever to approve expenditure from the NDRF.
The report further notes that in 2008/09, even though DIS had a full budget (both recurrent and development), it went on to use an amount of over P10 million from the same fund. “It is not all clear what circumstances led to the use of the funds, under what authority and for what purpose. The situation is exacerbated by the failure of the Accounting Officer to account for these funds and this leaves the committee with no option but to conclude that there must have been some element of abuse of funds.” PAC also recommended Eric Molale, the PSP, should be held accountable for the lapses in the system.