Letter to Editor Mmegi by Dr. Jeff Ramsay, Coordinator, BGCIS –Re: Today`s article `Government pays millions in minister’s housing allowances`

source: Republic of Botswana (8/4/09): TAUTONA TIMES no 10 of 2009
The Weekly Electronic Press Circular of the Office of the President
"Democracy, Development, Dignity and Discipline"

C4) 8/4/09: Letter to Editor Mmegi by Dr. Jeff Ramsay, Coordinator, BGCIS –Re: Today`s article `Government pays millions in minister’s housing allowances`

This is to place on record my dismay at the distortion of my response to questions received from your reporter, as published in today’s (8/4/09) edition of your newspaper. In a front page article (“Government pays millions in minister’s housing allowances”) it is reported that:

“Ramsay revealed that ministers are free to stay outside their ministerial residences as long as it is within a 50 km radius from the city. He said he was aware of only three ministers who stay within Gaborone –Mogoditshane –Tlokweng metro area.”

In response to you reporter's questions about “How many Ministers are not staying in their official Ministerial residences?” and “How many of them are staying outside Gaborone?” my actual, written, answer was as follows:

“Eleven (11) Ministers as well as three (3) Assistant Ministers are currently not staying in their official Ministerial Houses. Others entitled but also not staying in official Ministerial Houses: The Hon. Speaker of the House and Hon. Leader of the Opposition.

“In accordance with existing mandatory guidelines, all Ministers and Assistant Ministers are accommodated within 50 kms of the centre of Gaborone, to our knowledge all but three stay within the Gaborone-Mogoditshane-Tlokweng metro area.”

As can be seen both the meaning of what I actually said and your correspondent attributed to me are clearly quite different.

I trust that your newspaper will set the record straight in this respect.

The same report goes on to imply a connection between overtime payments to ministers' drivers and their accommodation status. In this respect I must express my further disappointment  that your correspondent chose to overlook my observations that while the details of such overtime payments was not immediately available any such payments “would be a reflection of the Minister’s overall work schedule.”