16 Jul 2019

There is no nation, anywhere in history that can realise its best potential if it squanders its resources recklessly without account, hence the need to build great and strong institutions against corruption.

These words were recently echoed by Alliance for Progressives leader, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe during his presentation on Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Bill: How far are we from a clean Government. 

He said the bill would serve as a good instrument that could help to fight the increasing corruption in the country. However, he expressed concern that it would not serve its purpose if the declarations were not made public. 

 “Unfortunately, corruption is cancer that does exist, because it is like a thief that steals away the potential to build this great economy that generates high paying jobs for our people. Corruption is actually a crime, particularly against the poor,” he said.

Without corruption, which is a threat to good governance, democratic process and fair business competition, Mr Gaolathe said Botswana’s economy had the potential to generate high paying jobs for the majority of the people. 

For that reason, he said every nation deserved to be led by men and women of great integrity, who valued honesty, decency, transparency, accountability and the sanctity of human life.

“This country has lost millions of money in recent years. And that is why we need to build a culture of transparency and honesty,”he said

However, he said that was not always possible ‘as we know and have seen many good men and women become powerful and erode the integrity that they have had before and fail to be elected into office.’

“There is never a substitute to a collective of good men and women,” he stressed.

The Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Bill is expected to be presented, for debate, during the on-going winter session of Parliament. ENDS