Botswana: The Director General of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC), Botlhale Makgekgenene, paid a courtesy call on the Commissioner of Prisons – Commissioner Dinah Marathe, at the Prisons Headquarters, in Gaborone, on 22 November 2023.
During the visit, the two institutions discussed a number of issues aiming at strengthening cooperation to advance their respective mandates.
On welcoming the DCEC team, Commissioner Marathe congratulated Makgekgenene on her new appointment as the Director General of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime.
She highlighted that the DCEC is a unique organisation, with a peculiar mandate of investigating allegations of corruption and economic crime, educating the public on the effects of corruption as well as preventing corruption. She said this is a huge mandate which has a bearing on the operations of every organisation including the Prison Service.
She noted that some of the people who end up in prison would have committed economic crimes and passed through the DCEC. This, she said, is the reason the two institutions need to interact in order to address issues affecting them constantly.
Commissioner Marathe pointed out that in the realisation of its mandate, the Prison Service is obligated to procure goods and services, which may create room for corruption if not properly managed.
โ๐๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ช-๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ,โ she said.
On her part, Makgekgenene expressed her gratitude to the Commissionerโs office for having acceded to the courtesy visit. She said the Botswana Prison Service forms part of the DCEC strategy, including investigations and the justice system. She said the two institutions worked harmoniously together without a structured partnership from time immemorial.
The Director General indicated that there has to be a formalised partnership in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding in order to pursue each otherโs mandate.
The two institutions further pledged to work closely on a number of areas, including mindset change initiatives and staff welfare issues.