Travel, overtime remain hefty while gov’t preaches strictness

“Further expenditure containment has been achieved through the implementation of a travel moratorium covering both domestic and international travel alongside tighter controls on overtime payments,” he said on Monday when delivering his second Budget Speech as Finance Minister. “These measures underscore the tangible impact of disciplined expenditure management.” But a perusing the 2026-2027 Estimates of Expenditure tells a more complicated story. Across ministries, allocations for travel, subsistence, overtime, and hospitality remain hefty and in some cases are climbing.

Office of the President, for example, has not trimmed down its travel budget despite calls for austerity. The estimates show that for the 2026-27 financial year P40 million has been budgeted for external travel alone, excluding internal travel and overtime. Overtime Allowances for the 26-27 financial year are P4, 717, 150.

This demonstrates that even with calls for restraint, overtime remains firmly budgeted. The department’s total budget increases from P165, 638,410 (2025/26) to P179, 866,780 (2026/27 estimate), an increase of over P14 million. For the Ministry for State President, Defence & Security, the big picture the entire ministry moves from P12,547,724,010 (2025/26) to P13,050,492,660 (2026/27 estimate), and this is an increase of over P502 million.

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Within this ministry, however sit high-travel, high-mobility institutions like Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Botswana Police Service (BPS), and Directorate on Intelligence and Security (DIS). Although security operations naturally require movement, the broader push for a moratorium raises questions about how deep the cuts will truly go. Under the Parliament budget, travel and overtime are still costly, and the estimates show that transportation of over P8.6 million has been budgeted for travel and subsistence alone in one department.

Over time, Parliament has an estimated allocation of P1, 849, 880. The estimates also show that overtime remains a persistent drain across departments. A closer look at the numbers reveals that overtime remains deeply embedded in government communication machinery. The overtime culture at the departments of Broadcasting & Information Services has been known for many years.

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