… Botswana dismisses ex-president Khama's claims of an assassination plot
GABORONE - The government of Botswana has dismissed as “outrageous” claims by former President Ian Khama that his family is under siege and there’s a plot to assassinate him.
Khama, who left Botswana in November 2021, is in South Africa. He previously said he didn’t flee the country and was attending to personal matters. He recently spoke to the SABC and opened up about his claims against his country’s government.
In the interview, he said his family had become the subject of victimisation in Botswana and faced trumped-up charges from a hostile President Mokgweetsi Masisi.
He said: I put him (Masisi) there. I was very foolish. I made a mistake and I apologised to the nation.
When Khama attended the funeral of former Zambian President Rupiah Banda in March, he said - in an apparent reference to Masisi - that “some politicians are not nice” and added that he was being persecuted in Botswana. Masisi did not attend the funeral.
Masisi has responded to Khama through acting permanent secretary for government communications John-Thomas Dipowe.
“The narrative that the former president and his family members are being persecuted is devoid of any truth,” Dipowe said in a statement.
Dipowe said it was “outrageous” that Khama even claimed that there was
an assassination plot against him. He added that Khama’s allegations had given Botswana a bad image.
Since leaving Botswana, Khama has been in South Africa, and travelled to Zimbabwe, Zambia and most recently Eswatini.
Khama, along with three others, is charged with 14 counts of illegal possession of firearms in a historical case which could lead to a former head of state of Botswana being jailed.
In the statement, Dipowe said no one in Botswana was above the law and, like any other citizen, Khama should answer to the charges levelled against him.
In Southern Africa, former heads of state such as Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, his successor Frederick Chiluba, Malawi’s Joyce Banda, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila, and Jacob Zuma have had to answer for alleged crimes.
Meanwhile, Guinea’s Attorney General has ordered legal proceedings against ousted President Alpha Conde and 26 of his former officials for alleged crimes including acts of violence while in office, a court document showed on Wednesday.
Conde, 84, was overthrown in a military coup last September by officers who now run the country. Anger against him had mounted after he altered the constitution to run for a third term in 2020. - NEWS24/