Botswana Institute of Accountants Holds Annual General Meeting and Dinner Dance @ GICC

The Botswana Institute of Accountants, the professional regulatory body of accountants in Botswana, held its Annual General Meeting on the afternoon of Thursday, 23 April, 2009 at the Gaborone International Convention Centre, (G.I.C.C). The meeting saw the election of a new Council which will lead the Institute for the next term until the next elections in 2010.

The President of the Institute as well as Council members are nominated and voted for by the Associate and Fellow members, the highest of the four membership categories, of the Institute. The Council consists of the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer, and four other elected members, the Northern Region Representative, the Registered and Licentiate category representatives. Then there is the Auditor General and the Accountant General from the Office of the Auditor General and the Accountant General respectively, as ex-officio members of Council.

This year saw the election of former Vice-President Nigel Dixon-Warren as the President. Vijay Kalyanaraman, formerly the Treasurer is the Vice-President, while Mmatlala Dube is the Treasurer. Other Council members are Priya Iyer, Rosemary Mogorosi, Rudi Binedell and Duncan Majinda, the CEO and Council Secretary. The Accountant General is represented by Emma Peloetletse while Dingaan Mabophiwa is the Auditor General Alternate. The Northern Committee is represented by Carlos Chilese and the Registered and Licentiate categories by Brian Dialwa and Onious Tomango respectively. 

The culmination of the AGM was the annual dinner dance in the evening. This saw the convergence of accountants and other academics, among them the guest speaker and renowned Member of Parliament Honorable Botsalo Ntuane.

Giving a keynote address, Honorable Ntuane emphasized that good citizenship can win the fight against poverty, underdevelopment and lead the African continent to prosperity and social justice. His remarks drew inspiration from one Tidjane Thiam, an Ivorian national who rose to head a FTSE 100 Company, making him the first indigenous African to assume the post, having also worked for other international renowned companies.

Tidjane Thiam had previously worked as a CEO of an infrastructural development company reporting directly to the president, stated Hon. Ntuane, and when he was elevated to minister he grappled with the decision to join government as the president was known to lock up his political opponents.

Things took a nasty turn when political strife prevailed in the 90s with the military seizing power, jailing members of the ousted government, including Tidjane Thiam. According to Hon. Ntuane, owing to his special skills, Thiam was released and offered the position of chief of staff in the junta.

“Always a committed democrat, he declined and left for France where he rebuilt his career in the corporate sector”, Ntuane emphasized. This, according to Ntuane, was illustrative of how everyone has an innate capacity to become achievers without compromising core beliefs and moral values.

“I have chosen this hitherto unsung man as the theme for our evening because to me he represents hope for our continent. Tidjane Thiam is the compass by which young Africans should set their aspirations”, Ntuane added.

Honourable Ntuane stressed that the African continent remains a black sheep in the world of nations because too often, our most educated and intelligent lack moral fibre as they have compromised ethical conduct and principle in pursuit of personal advancement and accumulation.

“The reason our continent is troubled is because we have not created enough ethically inclined, law-abiding and civic minded young people to tip the scale in favor of the good and the positive”, Hon. Ntuane pointed out. He said the challenges facing young educated people of the African continent are to use their privilege for the betterment of their countries and for the upliftment of the life conditions of their fellow citizens.

Young people must reject the notion that the rest of the world operates according to a different set of rules to which Africans are not entitled, Hon Ntuane added.

Hon. Ntuane emphasized that his belief is that human rights, civil liberties, rule of law, democracy, accountability, equal opportunity and free enterprise society are indivisible and non-negotiable universal values to which everyone is entitled to, Africa included.

For her part, the out-going President Mrs. Priya Iyer thanked the Botswana Government for acceding to their request to give the Institute a P5 million grant to have its own building. This, she added, in spite of the global financial crisis, illustrates the appreciation by government of the role played by the accounting profession.

Mrs. Iyer further revealed that the World Bank has also granted the Institute P3.5 million to assist in strengthening the institutional capacity. This is testimony to the fact that the Institute is on the right track, she stated.

“The actions of the International Federation of Accountants(IFAC) make me believe we have done the right things because it chose Botswana as one of the six, alongside Argentina, China, Czech Republic, Kenya and Romania to have their action plans publicly released in the IFAC website as role models for other member bodies to emulate’, she concluded.

Oupa Gaofise
BIA Secretariat

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Botswana Institute of Accountants
Plot 50676, Block B, Second Floor
Fairgrounds Office Park
Private Bag 0021,
Gaborone, Botswana
Phone: +267 397 2992
Fax: +267 397 2982
Email: bia@bia.org.bw

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