Asset declaration failers to be named and shamed
The Ethics and Integrity Directorate (EID) will soon implement a policy to publicly name and shame individuals who fail to submit their declarations after receiving notices from the Director-General.
Presenting the Directorate’s 2024–2025 Budget Estimates to Parliament recently, Assistant Minister for State President, Boitumelo Gofhamodimo announced that EID is currently digitising its Asset Declaration System through the SMART Botswana Hackathon initiative.
She disclosed that once this initiative is complete, the public will have access to a list of individuals who have submitted their declarations and a list of those who have failed to do so.
“The Ethics and Integrity Directorate continues to promote and reinforce integrity and accountability in public office. Efforts are underway to build a world-class asset declaration system for monitoring interests, income, assets, and liabilities,” she said.
In addition to naming and shaming, Gofhamodimo revealed that the first stage of the digitisation project aims to enhance the efficiency of the Directorate by automating the asset declaration form and various processes.
She said digitisation will simplify the completion and submission of declarations electronically. The newly appointed assistant minister further indicated that the digital asset declaration form is now ready for piloting.
“The second stage of developing the Asset Declaration System, starting soon, involves creating the back-end for processing declarations, including analysing and verifying submitted information to detect corruption, money laundering, or proceeds from other offences. This stage will also establish a digital Register of Interests, Income, Assets, and Liabilities,” Gofhamodimo emphasised.
She said the office is enhancing capacity through collaboration with other government agencies whose mandates complement those of the Ethics and Integrity Directorate, including the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, Financial Intelligence Agency, Botswana Unified Revenue Service, and Companies and Intellectual Property Authority.
While acknowledging the Directorate’s staff shortages, Gofhamodimo noted that this impedes the complete execution of its mandate and achievement of deliverables, such as maintaining a register of declarations, issuing notices for failure to declare, and enforcing penalties.
She added that the Directorate is also falling short in providing guidelines on Conflict of Interest and a Code of Ethics.
Established by Section 4 of the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act No. 12 of 2019 as amended by Act No. 1 of 2020, the Ethics and Integrity Directorate began operations in January 2020 and receiving declarations since February of the same year.
Its mandate is to promote and reinforce integrity and accountability in public office by ensuring compliance with the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act, monitoring interests, income, assets, and liabilities, and collaborating with other entities to promote ethical conduct.