The Umbrella Democratic Party (UDC)-led government has come up with its draft National Development Plan (NDP 12) anticipated to run for a period of five (5 years) starting October 2025 to March 2030.
Presenting the proposed 12th National Development Plan (NDP 12) draft to Parliament on Tuesday, Minister for State President Moeti Mohwasa stated that the government intends to finance the NDP 12 to the tune of P388.09 billion. Mohwasa said the plan was more than just a technical roadmap, but a people’s plan intended to be a game changer reflecting hopes and aspirations of Batswana.
Mohwasa highlighted that the tabled draft NDP 12 was an outcome of extensive consultation entailing various stakeholders. He stated that the National Planning Commission (NPC) Advisory Council provided oversight and guidance. He noted that upon being established in 2022, the NPC was tasked with providing seamless national development planning.
According to Mohwasa “drafting of the plan was based on the new government’s aspirations and other key reference documents for shaping a promising path forward. At the heart of the Government’s transformative agenda is to achieve a broad-based and inclusive economy that has the potential to touch the lives of every citizen.”
He emphasised that true to its social transformation commitment, government priorities “inclusive growth, quality lives” as the mantra in attaining an improvement in the livelihoods of its citizenry.
According to the minister, the NDP 12 ushers in a new era of a New Botswana which embraces a future of opportunities. He indicated that the new administrationendeavourss to take the challenges head on. To this end, he indicated that the NDP is anchored around putting the private sector at the centre of growth, digitalising the economy, transforming education, productivity and relevance, creating jobs and reducing poverty and driving industrialization as well as transparency and accountability in government and a human centric governance.
Further, the NDP 12 seeks to leverage Asset Securitisation wherein government intends to unlock greater value through government owned assets. This is deemed a transformative instrument geared to stimulate economic activity, said the minister. Furthermore, the envisaged NDP 12 will focus on public service efficiency. With this, the minister outlined that government aspires to improve public service performance which over the years declined owing to factors such as bureaucracy, centralization, and duplication of functions across ministries.
Moreover, according to the Minister for State President, government has committed to adopting a hybrid public service delivery model placing more focus on insourcing.
“The hybrid model aims to balance efficiency with fairness and sustainability. It will retain outsourcing only in sectors where it has proven effective, while considering insourcing only in sectors where it has proven effective, while considering insourcing functions like cleaning, gardening and security where outsourcing has consistently failed to deliver value for money or project workers,” said the minister.
Meanwhile, the UDC government has pinned its hopes for an economic revival on the implementation, monitoring and proper evaluation of this plan. Government holds that this is a game changer that which deliver transformation for all Batswana thereby addressing the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequalities which have persisted over time.
Parliament is expected to conclude the debate on the NDP12 on Friday, 7 November 2025.
