Ministers declare assets
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GABORONE – Ministers have declared their assets to President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
Minister for Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Ramadeluka Seretse said at a media briefing, Monday, that the move was a response to calls from some quarters that politicians should declare their assets.
The first person to be concerned about the lavish life of ministers, he said, should be the President.
He said the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) had been performing fairly well in combating corruption through prevention, investigation and public education.
Botswana instantly became a destination for benchmarking and learning anticorruption initiatives, he said basing on recent visits by Zimbabwe and China.
We are emulated by many, both those who are in the process of forming their own anticorruption organs and those who have been around long back before the DCEC was even an idea.
The minister said as much as there was need for the DCEC to be transparent in its dealings, the media should understand that peoples names are involved and as such release of information had to be done cautiously.
Mr Seretse regretted that they have had instances of people complaining about leakage of information from the DCEC, a scenario that is often complex because several people were involved during investigations.
He said it was against this backdrop that the DCEC needed to be cautious when disseminating information as it was expected to maintain highest confidentiality.
Minister Seretse also stated that law enforcement agencies should not work against each other in the fight against corruption and crime. It should be a combined effort.
He said corruption was rampant in government as many cases have been unveiled, which have resulted in prosecution and conviction.
Next year, he said, government would bring experts to assist in particular skills impartation for DCEC personnel.
In her remarks, DCEC director, Mrs Rose Seretse said Botswana continues to be rated the least corrupt country in Africa and one of the least corrupt in the world.
However, the director said this did not in anyway mean that there was no corruption in Botswana.
In fact, corruption in Botswana is becoming increasingly complex and challenging.
The biggest challenge this year has been in the area of procurement followed by land and fraud in the form of cheques.
Mrs Seretse said there was also a growing trend of cheating in examinations.
She also thanked the media for being watchdogs of her department adding that some of the cases they were investigating were picked from the media.