Eyebrowraising P204.5m for Moz troops
● Defence Ministry’s request for more funds raises debate
● One soldier dies on duty, as mission takes longer than anticipated
● Saleshando warns ‘country no longer thriving as before’
● Opposition urges President not to act as a puppet master-pulling Parliament on strings
The Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security (MDJS) has requested additional funding of up to P204.5 million under the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) to cover costs of deploying and sustaining troops in Mozambique.
The money is part of the P2.49 billion supplementary budget contained in the Financial Paper No. 1 of 2021-2022 that raised heated debate in Parliament on Wednesday. When presenting a statement on the supplementary estimates of expenditure from the consolidated and development funds before Parliament this week, finance minister Peggy Serame said out of the P2.49 billion, P2.36 billion has been requested for four ministries including MDJS, while P134 million has been specifically requested to augment the costs of Mozambique deployment request at the security ministry.
“The resultant decline in economic activity has negatively impacted government revenues which, in turn, compels Government to reprioritize its spending plans by redirecting financial resources to critical and urgent areas of need ” Serame revealed.
Serame added part of the funds requested in P2.36 billion is under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, being Botswana’s contribution to the SADC Secretariat to finance the SADC Standby Force Deployment in Mozambique, which is determined by Member States’ additional assessed contributions. “The SADC mission is mandated to support the Mozambique Armed Defence Force to combat acts of terrorism and violent extremism in Cabo Delgado Province, Republic of Mozambique,” she said. President Mokgweetsi Masisi earlier this month sent 296 Botswana Defence Force (BDF) troops to reinforce Mozambique’s battle against Islamist insurgents.
One member of the BDF has since died while on duty in Mozambique. During the send-off, Masisi revealed that each SADC member contributing troops to the battle would pay its own costs, together with assistance from the SADC Secretariat. Initially, when the then finance minister Thapelo Matsheka presented a proposed budget for MDJS, Botswana had not yet committed to aiding combat against terrorist insurgency wreaking havoc in Mozambique’s northern province. MDJS’s budget at the time was P8.39 billion making it the second-largest recommended Ministerial Recurrent Budget allocation. The ministry has also submitted a request for additional funding under BDF, for the operationalisation of the support to the Republic of Mozambique.
This requirement to deploy and sustain the force is for a budgetary allocation of P65,8m under the recurrent budget. Serame added that in order to finance the supplementary budget her ministry recommends utilising part of the balances under various Special Funds. Serame also told Parly that they recommend withdrawing finance warrants for some of the approved development budgets, targeting projects and programmes that have not yet commenced. She said this is all done in order to accommodate requests from the MJDS among others.
Tonota legislator Pono Moatlhodi, who supported the proposal, asked if the supplementary budget for the BDF was enough because in the past the UN came to Botswana’s aid. MP for Shashe West Fidelis Molao said he believes that the BDF should be supported with everything they need during their deployment in Mozambique.
“One day this might happen to us, therefore, other countries will also come here to help us. So, we should not act like we are fine and would not need future help or intervention. We should never turn a blind eye to any situation,” he said. For his part, Leader of Opposition Dumelang Saleshando said no one should say that as the opposition they don’t want the BDF troops in Mozambique to be given funds. “Lemogang Kwape’s report last week indicated that the deployment will only last three months and it will be as swift as possible. The world has experienced these similar wars before so we should learn to assess situations because it takes longer than anticipated,” he expressed. Saleshando said the government must accept that circumstances have changed and the country is no longer thriving as before.
He said the current administration has depleted foreign reserves. Bobonong MP Taolo Lucas said recently when the defence minister told Parliament that the BDF is going to Mozambique they said the constitution allows the President to send troops to Mozambique without consulting Parliament.
“Now you are back here again in Parliament to request for the money, which will be used for the deployment. We were never told that money would be used for this deployment. Now Parliament is being used as a puppet,” he said. He said in the future when a deployment like this is planned, Masisi should consult Parliament. The terrorist conflict in Cabo Delgado, the oil-rich north Mozambican province, has seen more than 3,000 people killed since 2017, with reports of beheadings, disembowelling of expectant mothers and other brutalities. Mozambique had a high level of insecurity where the terrorist group of Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah had perpetrated acts of terror and violent extremism, which could spill across borders in the region.