Cabinet to approve BMC CEO this month
Commission last had substantive CEO in 2018
Cabinet is expected to approve the appointment of Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Meat Commission this month, after the Commission ran without a CEO for a long time.
The Commission, which has been operating under Acting CEOs, last had a substantive CEO in 2018. Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Karabo Gare said the process for the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer for BMC is ongoing. He indicated that the position was advertised and potential candidates interviewed and the approval by Cabinet for the appointment of the CEO will be concluded by the end of March 2022. He emphasized that while the CEO position is undeniably vital to implement the turnaround of the BMC, there is a fully- resourced Board of Directors appointed to the BMC, as well as a bench of Executive Management ( EXCO). He said, additionally, there is support from the Ministry Management to ensure that all that is required within the BMC’s operational environment is addressed. “The BMC has just developed an organizational strategy aimed at addressing matters of urgent nature within the BMC, referred to as Meriting 20222025 Strategy. It is through the implementation of this Strategy, which is in its first- year of implementation, that BMC will address existing challenges and meet the growing and shifting market demands. The BMC Meriting Strategy maps out the direction the BMC will take to fulfill its mandate as well as meet its strategic goals, driven by desired principle of self- sustenance, sustainability, and commerciality. Successful implementation of the Meriting Strategy will not only relieve BMC from over reliance on Government for funding but return the Commission to profitability and long- term financial sustainability,” said the Minister. He explained that the four year aspirational targets set to occasion a turn around and a solvent- entity with positive contribution to national accounts through strategic priorities being: Organizational redesign to transform and make BMC perform with a new purpose fit business and operating model with commensurate change- support programme. Secondly, restructured cost structure and optimized utilization of assets; appropriate resourcing of the strategy through multi- faceted funding options and strategies to include also commercial and private funding entities with reduced over dependency on Government. Thirdly, improved stakeholder satisfaction by ensuring adequate management of stakeholder- relations and their expectations; maintaining currently secured export- quality standards, as well as retaining global- markets’ compliance
achievements. Lastly, technology adoption, digitization and cyber- security to ensure visibility and infuse integrity on all transactions within the BMC, among others. According to the Minister, the Botswana Meat Commission ( Transition) Act 2019 is expected to commence during the first quarter of the financial year 2022/ 2023. The Transition Bill, he said, paves way for three core activities: corporatization of BMC, establishment of a meat industry regulatory authority; and liberalization of the meat export market. He explained that following the signing of the Bill into law, top on the agenda of the new CEO will be to corporatize BMC. “As at the 31st December 2021, the Commission reported a deficit of P 106 million compared to a surplus of P3.2 million reported in 2020. This from a consolidated cattle slaughter/ throughput of 19,671 cattle for the BMC Lobatse and BMC Maun operations. The number of total animals slaughtered for the period of 1st January to end February 2022 stood at 3 029 compared to 561 during the same period in 2021. This has in turn led to the increased revenues of P20.1 million reported compared to a budget of P11.4 million. On a year- onyear comparative basis, this is a 44 per cent increase relative to P13.96 million for the same period in 2021,” stated the Minister. Last year, Acting Minister of Agriculture, Beauty Manake told the Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies and State Enterprise that BMC has not had a substantive CEO since 2018. “The problem we have had at BMC is that we did not have a CEO since 2018. The challenges we have been facing there are many and we want to bring BMC back to life. There has been restructuring and liberation of BMC which is why we came up with the Transitional Bill. BMC has not been having Policy direction. We are on the process of appointing the CEO. We are at the tail- end of that. We have been constrained by policy direction to appoint the CEO because we wanted to first know the direction the beef industry is taking,” Manake said, adding that they are doing assessments and interviews.