Suchergebnisse

Some members of society, such as the destitute, suffer from diverse vulnerabilities. Poverty is the most profound form of vulnerability. Hence, the state must provide the vulnerable with social safety nets. Botswana, despite being a middle‐income economy, has its share of poverty. In response, it established anti‐poverty programs. Given the prominence of these programs, it is important to ask the following questions: (i) is the government sincerely committed to its own anti‐poverty policies, statements, and declarations? and (ii) has the government demonstrated by deed that it has the political will to implement anti‐poverty programs? The article used a political economy analysis tool to answer these questions. It concluded that there is an anti‐poverty regime with defined institutions, players/actors, and ideas, and the government is committed to anti‐poverty programs. Finally, there are general lessons from the case study. Key lessons are (i) committing to a cause and resourcing it, and (ii) using political party policy to guide the anti‐poverty policy.

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to discuss corporate governance in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Lesotho to influence policy debates.


Design/methodology/approach
This is a desktop study that used the qualitative research approach. For this research, the case study method has been adopted. In terms of orientation, this is descriptive research. Data were collected from three-tiered sources: independent publications (e.g. World Bank); government publications; and newspaper articles. Data analysis was in the form of document analysis.


Findings
The study concluded that there are instances of poor and/or bad governance in SOEs in Lesotho. Egregious examples include transgressing against the Public Financial Management Act (2011) and the failure to submit Audited Financial Results.


Research limitations/implications
The findings are limited to a specific case. Nonetheless, there are general lessons that can be drawn for African countries from the case study. A key general lesson is the imperative need to reconfigure the legal-institutional architecture of SOEs so that they create public value.


Practical implications
Other than cataloguing instances of poor and/or bad governance in SOEs in Lesotho, the paper goes further and accordingly makes policy recommendations to enhance corporate governance in SOEs in Lesotho.


Originality/value
There is no academic study on corporate governance in SOEs in Lesotho; therefore, there is a gap in the literature. Hence, the study makes an original contribution to the literature.

Botswana, like the rest of primary product-dependent economies, saw her revenues declining in mid 2008 due to the onset of the global financial and economic crises. Due to reduced revenues, the economy has posted budget deficits since the 2008/09 financial year. The fiscal challenges forced the government to undertake a Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) Performance assessment in 2009 to ensure fiscal prudence. After the assessment, the government introduced a Public Finance Management Reform programme that begot a Budget Strategy Paper that advised the preparation of the 2011/12 Budget Speech and budget. In addition, when the Finance Minister read the 2011/12 Budget Speech, he announced that the government intended to adopt a black ink in 2012 and beyond, that is, balance the budget in 2012 and post surpluses afterward. Is this objective deliverable? Yes, however, running the government by black ink will largely demand political leadership, a sturdy resolve to resist populist spending and speeding up of expenditure reforms.