Wasteful NARDI in limbo
Merger yet to be completed since it started in 2011 No substantive CEO, DPS seconded to complete merger Entity marred by poor governance and accountability
National Agricultural Research and Development Institute ( NARDI), an institution that is yet to take off, has emerged to be one of the wasteful government entities under the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security.
NARDI came about as a result of the government’s decision through the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security acting on a Presidential Directive CAB 4 ( A) 2011 to merge the National Food Technology Resource Centre ( NFTRC), the Department of Agricultural Research ( DAR) and the Botswana National Veterinary Laboratory ( BNVL).
NARDI exists to reduce public expenditure and improve cost efficiencies among parastatals and public entities through shared institutional resources and services.
While it has been about three years since the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer followed by Executive Directors at NARDI, the merger has not been completed, and founding Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Bernard Tubego- Bulawayo who was appointed in November 2019 as per the NARDI Staff Establishment Document Number NARDI/ HR/ B/ 22, has been booted out under dubious circumstances.
Currently Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Thabang Botshoma has been appointed the caretaker CEO to oversee the long- overdue merger and the recruitment of a new CEO. The organisation is also currently running without a Board of Directors.
It has also emerged that the winding up of NFTRC has not taken place and the organisation is still not deregistered with CIPA as should be the case.
Acting Agriculture Minister Beauty Manake revealed this week that they have prepared a Board and are hopeful that Cabinet will approve it this week.
Manake explained that after the departure of Dr. Bulawayo the Ministry made such a request with Permanent Secretary to the President and with the approval of the President for the DPS to be seconded to the organisation to oversee the completion of the merger.
“NARDI is a developing process. Even its funding is not enough. We hope NARDI will soon run as per its mandate. NFTRC has no board and no CEO but it is operating. There have been mistakes with subventions to these institutions.
“I take full responsibility that this is a mistake which we thought we will fix through the merger,” Manake told the Statutory Bodies and State Enterprise Committee of Parliament.
Manake had been summoned by the committee chaired by MP for NKange Dr. Never Tshabang to answer issues of corporate governance in some of the entities that fall under her Ministry.
The committee has threatened to recommend to Parliament that these subventions be stopped as they are a waste of government funds while there is no progress in the merger.
“We will recommend for the discontinuation of these subventions because there is no one to account for the financials of these organisations.
“At NARDI the Acting CEO was appointed on the same day that he was scheduled to appear before this committee. We had to send them back because there was no how he could speak to the issues on the same day of his appointment.
“There is low staff morale at NFTRC because employees are left in the dark about everything, while management is serving the interest of those at the parent Ministry,” Dr Tshabang said.
Committee member Talita Monnakgotla of Kgalagadi North wondered why there is still funding for NARDI, while there is no progress in the merger. She said the process started a long time ago and could have been completed by now.
Minister Manake could not give a definite time frame when all will be in place and the merger completed. The committee expressed concern that it will this year miss examining books of accounts for the two entities because they have appeared without proper documents and this will affect their report preparations for Parliament.
The new institution is expected to ensure sustainable agricultural production through bridging the gap between research and industry and foster innovation, value addition, and commercialisation of research output to drive economic diversification and improve national food security.
NARDI is expected to operate along key research thematic areas focusing on horticulture, field crops, floriculture, industrial crops, ornamental plants, fodder, livestock production, animal health, and Biosystems engineering as well as food science and technology, Agricultural Economics, innovation, intellectual asset beneficiation, technology transfer, and commercialisation.
In March this year, Botswana Guardian reported that while the government continues to pour a lot of funds into NARDI there was no progress in the merger save for only lucrative salaries for the top executives. A confidential document from the organisation titled NARDI REMUNERATION POLICY AND STRUCTURE shows that NARDI has adopted the Hay Job Evaluation System as the basis for determining the relative worth of each job within job families. The structure has 12 grades ranging from Band 1 at the top down to Band 12 at the bottom.
According to the structure the CEO at Band 1 ( Hay Units: 1628) receives a basic salary of P110, 183.33 per month and under Gross Fixed Annual remuneration gets P139, 729.16 per month.
Executive Directors Band 2 ( Hay Units: 10561260) minimum basic salary is P94 , 490.08 per month and minimum Gross Fixed Annual remuneration is P118, 112.58.
Directors at Band 3 ( Hay Units: 735- 1055) get between P72 009.33 as minimum basic salary and P79 210.25 as maximum basic salary per month.
Managers ( senior Professionals and Managers) at Band 4 ( Hay Units: 614- 734) get P67 067.16.