Minister of Transport and Communications, Kitso Mokaila will not stop at anything or be intimidated in his quest to uproot corruption at his ministry.
According to Mokaila he has no political career to protect as many might think he will be reluctant to take action to protect his job. The minister revealed this week that when he was transferred to the ministry in October 2016, President Ian Khama made it clear to him,to restore dignity of the ministry.
“The president told me this ministry is the most corrupt, do not deliver but is always given a lot of money. He said I must come to this ministry to do something and I am going to do something and ensure that things are done accordingly. I would not have friends here. I am going to do my work without fear or favour because I am fearless,” said the minister.
Mokaila said he prides himself in being in the company of his Permanent Secretary Kabelo Ebineng. He said they have agreed that they would work side by side in the best interest of Batswana. Mokaila who was addressing a stakeholders’ consultative meeting for road sector contractors revealed that the Department of Roads has proven to be number one culprit in corruption within the ministry.
He indicated that some employees are colluding with consultants. According to Mokaila consultants and engineers are dictating to the ministry through the department while they in fact should be taking instructions from the ministry. He pointed out that there is a high turnover of minister, Permanent Secretaries and directors at the transport ministry due to failure to do things accordingly.
“As we speak I am minister number seven (7) since 2008 and my PS is number thirteen (13) same period. There is need for stability but I am not saying I have to be retained post 1st April this year. All I am saying is there is need for stability whether I’m staying or would be leaving the ministry in April or not as we know there would be changes beginning April,” he posited.
The minister told the stakeholders that there would be many causalities as they fix things in the ministry. He indicated that people will lose their jobs as the ministry search for capable personnel who will do their work diligently to serve Batswana. He explained that the ministry especially the roads department has allowed a lot of collusion with engineers and consultants. “That has to come to an end,” he said adding that most of the consultants used to work for the department as directors and managers. The minister revealed that together with his PS they would be ruthless when fixing the mess at the department. “I know some of the citizen contractors who do not finish the work awarded to them. We are failing to take corrective measures because there are no End of Activity Reports. We are going through transformation and you would see new faces. “Some of these consultants will be shown the door. I know some of you would come to me saying elders are involved in some of the projects but know that I do not care. I am not scared of my political life even if I am fired tomorrow I do not have a problem at least it would have been for the good cause. “There is too much in this ministry that needs to be sorted. When I was at the ministry of Wildlife and Tourism I thought there was too much work, when I joined that of Minerals I thought it was worse until I joined this ministry,” Mokaila indicated.