A digital transformation project meant to secure Botswana’s electronic government infrastructure has instead exposed yet another black hole in public accountability. The Public Account Committee (PAC) this week learnt how P125 million entrusted to the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) remains beyond the scrutiny of the very ministry that authorised it.
Appearing before PAC, Ministry of Communications and Infrastructure Permanent Secretary Cecil Masiga admitted that the ministry could not account for how the intelligence agency spent the money after it was transferred through Letter of Authority (LA) on the basis that the work was a “national security project”.
The revelation came as Masiga detailed the collapse of the P423 million electronic government and reform programme, an ambitious project intended to become the backbone of Botswana’s digital government infrastructure.
The system was designed to provide secure online government services, establish a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), encrypt sensitive government information, authenticate the identities of citizens and institutions, and facilitate legally recognized digital signatures for official transactions.
Instead, after hundreds of millions of pula were spent, the project failed. And when lawmakers demanded answers about where part of the money had gone, the ministry had none.
“We are not privy to the details of how it was used,” Masiga told the committee. “It is for the good of the country that we were also left in the dark about what the money was used for,” the PS said of the P125 million.
The statement laid bare a striking contradiction that the accounting ministry responsible for the project was unable to explain how a substantial portion of public funds under its own budget had been spent. PAC members repeatedly questioned why the Ministry had authorised another government entity to spend money appropriated to its own project.
Masiga explained that the programme included components related to national security, particularly the development of a public key infrastructure, a system underpinning secure electronic communications and digital identity verification. According to the Permanent Secretary, Government took the position that DIS was better placed to execute that component because of its security implications.
Masiga explained that the programme included components related to national security, particularly the development of a public key infrastructure, a system underpinning secure electronic communications and digital identity verification. According to the Permanent Secretary, Government took the position that DIS was better placed to execute that component because of its security implications.
“Under this programme there are a number of areas intended to be covered… security being one of them,” Masiga said.
However, when committee members asked for a breakdown of how the P125 million entrusted to DIS had been utilised, Masiga conceded that the ministry had been unable to obtain that information.
“Unfortunately we are not able to obtain information relating to that,” he told MPs.
The admission prompted further questions from legislators, who struggled to understand how a ministry could authorise another institution to spend public funds without retaining oversight over the expenditure.
The hearing also exposed uncertainty over the project’s own financial management.
Asked whether the project had remained within its approved budget before its collapse, Masiga acknowledged that the ministry could not determine whether spending had exceeded the original budget.
“There was an approved project memorandum,” he said. “But we don’t have the clear details in relation to whether we were on budget or out of budget.”
The committee was equally concerned that no official has been held accountable for the collapse of one of Government’s largest digital infrastructure projects.
Masiga attributed the failure primarily to capacity constraints within the ministry, citing institutional and human resource limitations. The hearing also examined the use of Letters of Authority, a mechanism that allows one government institution to spend funds appropriated to another. Besides the P125 million transferred to DIS, the ministry disclosed that the money also funded consultancy work, awareness campaigns, branding exercises and technical support.
