President Duma Gideon Boko and Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe jointly launched the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP) at the Mass Media Complex in Gaborone on Monday, marking the beginning of what they described as the most ambitious economic overhaul in the country’s history.
President Boko painted a sobering picture of Botswana’s economic condition, describing it as stagnant and overly reliant on diamonds. He acknowledged widespread unemployment, especially among the youth, and lamented the country’s failure to diversify its economy. “Unemployment is both a blight and a vulgarizing constraint, and in relation to the youth, it is a ticking time bomb,” he declared. Poverty, he said, “stalks the landless peasant and the underemployed urban dweller with gross ferocity,” while government institutions have “underperformed and malfunctioned.”
Against this backdrop, President Boko launched the BETP, which is anchored on four action points: pivoting from a resource-based to a diversified, services-led economy; establishing Botswana as a regional financial hub; leveraging political stability and legal certainty; and delivering sustainable value aligned with the ruling party’s manifesto. “Transformation is not a crawl but a sprint,” Boko said, committing to dismantle bureaucratic inertia and create a “fast and fearless delivery culture.”
He announced that Botswana has engaged Pemandu Associates, a global transformation firm with a track record of success in Malaysia, Dubai, and Rwanda. Their role, he emphasized, is not consultancy, but “war-room execution.” Pemandu will work alongside government and private sector actors to fast-track viable economic ideas through structured economic labs. The President called on investors to “bring your capital, bring your courage,” and pledged a responsive and efficient public sector.
Vice President Gaolathe reinforced the President’s message, warning that the country’s traditional economic pillars—primarily diamond revenues—can no longer sustain long-term growth. “Youth unemployment is unacceptably high. Economic momentum has softened. Global economic shifts, demographic pressures, and climate challenges demand a bold new vision,” Gaolathe said. He emphasized that BETP is not just a policy initiative but a moral obligation to the next generation of Batswana.
According to Gaolathe, BETP is structured into four phases: diagnostics, strategic alignment, economic labs, and execution. The approach prioritizes implementation over theoretical planning. “Too many ideas with strong economic fundamentals have been immobilised not for lack of value, but by red tape, indecision, or institutional fragmentation,” he stated. BETP, he said, “is a delivery architecture” designed to replace wishful, abstract planning with data-driven, time-bound, and outcome-oriented execution.
A key feature of the initiative is the “Call for Ideas,” which invites bold and scalable project proposals over a four-week period via a new online portal. The programme is open to all—cooperatives, SMEs, informal traders, public servants, and corporate investors. All proposals will be evaluated in structured labs bringing together government officials, financiers, regulators, and proposers. One example cited was a proposal by Kgalagadi Breweries Limited to reduce the alcohol levy on locally produced beer to stimulate investment and create jobs.
The Vice President also highlighted a long-standing failure to allocate government land to the Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) as an example of bureaucratic paralysis that BETP aims to end. “Ministries and regulators will be in the room, with the authority to decide,” he said. “Projects that do not need government funding will be fast-tracked.”
In parallel with economic labs, the government will roll out Social Labs focused on tackling societal challenges such as youth unemployment, public health, and social cohesion. Gaolathe stressed that transformation would not be easy. “Transformation will be painful at first. It demands speed, courage, and a willingness to disrupt the familiar. But stagnation is far costlier,” he said.
The programme also envisions large-scale infrastructure projects, including a global-standard airport and logistics hub, regional rail corridors, and turnaround strategies for key parastatals like the Botswana Meat Commission and the Botswana Vaccine Institute. The Vice President underlined that the real economy must deliver “hundreds of thousands” of jobs each year, and stressed the importance of AI, TVET reforms, and digital capabilities in preparing Botswana’s workforce for the future.
President Boko concluded the launch by vowing to personally oversee implementation through a weekly presidential delivery dashboard, with quarterly public updates. “I’m not asking for change. I’m demanding it,” he declared. The President and Vice President pledged radical transparency, execution discipline, and public accountability. “This transformation is not for the few. It is for every village, every town, every Motswana,” said Boko.
