e-Legislation to reduce bottlenecks
GOVERNMENT
By BiztechAfrica – March 29, 2012, 3:06 p.m.
By John Churu, Gaobororne, Botswana
The government of Botswana says it is geared towards enacting reforms that would see the operations of both government departments and ministries go online in order to expedite services that it conducts. This follows the country’s plummeting rankings in the World Bank’s Doing Business report.
According to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dorcas Makgato-Malesu, among the most problematic areas are starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, getting credit, legislation and enforcing contracts.
“These have serious implications for attracting investment as well as Doing Business Competitiveness, hence it is critical to reverse the decline and as such position Botswana to be more competitive.”
The ongoing reforms, according to Makgato-Malesu include the introduction of online name search and registration system in April 2012. Also Makgato-Malesu said the government will establishment of an electronic interface with neighbouring countries which is earmarked to start with Namibia also in the month of April.
Botswana Parliament will in July table bills to approve the e-legislation. From this, it is expected that amongst issue to be looked at are those concerning e-filling of tax returns and e-payment, online registration of companies and for travellers, the online application of visas will be undertaken.
“Accordingly, Licensing Authorities through online applications will expedite processing of applications for trade, liquor and industrial licenses, as I see it, enactment of e-legislation will address a lot of bottlenecks and hence improve the ease of doing business in the country,’ explained Makgato-Malesu.
“Our Doing Business reforms are fairly new but we will continue to make concerted efforts to improve our competitiveness. The reforms are entirely homegrown interventions based on our experiences on the reform process so far, and also lessons learnt from best reformers. In this regard, collaboration and buy in of all stakeholders in the economy is really critical,” Makgato-Malesu added. Makgato-Malesu was part of the delegation attending the Regional Doing Business Conference which is hosting businessperson, ministers and legal fundis from across Africa.
