Boyce Sectela
The Pan Afrikanist Watchman
Former Minister and Member of Parliament for Palapye, Boyce Lephimotswe Sebetela has been appointed the country’s inaugural Chief of Staff in the Office of the President.
The announcement was made Monday, 2nd August 2021 via a press release by the Permanent Secretary for Government Communications, Andrew Sesinyi.
Sesinyi explained that Sebetela’s appointment was made by President Dr. Mokweetsi Erifc Keabetswe Masisi in accordance with the powers vested in him under Section 112 of the Constitution of the Republic of Botswana.
According to Sesinyi, the main purpose of the position of Chief of Staff is to “direct and oversee implementation of national priorities in alignment with political pronouncements made by His Excellency the President”.
The key outcomes of the job are twofold – first, to ensure successful achievement of government priorities, and secondly, to ensure alignment of government machinery and political interest of the government of the day.
It is evident that with this position in government structures, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) is gradually adopting a cadre deployment strategy as employed by South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC).
This strategy places a high premium on the appointment of party activists into key and strategic government positions in order to align the work of government with the party’s policies and programmes.
In Sebetela’s case, he will be largely responsible for overseeing Masisi’s Reset Agenda, by which the President wants to jumpstart the economy, which has been battered and ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sesinyi explained that the Chief of Staff is directly responsible and accountable to the President, and indirectly to the Permanent Secretary of the President.
The substantive PSP, Elijah Magosi is eyeing the plump post of Executive Secretary of the regional economic bloc Southern African Development Community (SADC), whose headquarters are here in Gaborone, Botswana.
Magosi will know his fate on August 17, 2021, when the vote is finally made. President Masisi has crisscrossed the region on a charm offensive selling Magosi’s administrative attributes and presenting him as the best candidate to steer the regional organisation towards prosperity and the ideals enshrined in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP).
Sebetela’s last job was as Head of Strategy for DEbswana Mining Company. Sebetela’s appointment as Chief of Staff in the Office of the President is with effect from the 1st of August 2021.
