Where is the BDF’s Judge Advocate General?
No BDF former soldier is owed money for UN missions - Segokgo Security sector hard hit by COVID
The newly- created post of Judge Advocate General for Botswana Defence Force still remains vacant after it was unanimously sanctioned by Parliament.
This is because President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi has not appointed anyone yet to fill this post, which promises to rank BDF among the most progressive in the region. On Tuesday BDF Commander, Lieutenant General Placid Segokgo confirmed to the Public Accounts Committee ( PAC) that the Advocate General is still to be appointed and that the process is ongoing.
Segokgo said, “it is not for the commander to hire the Advocate General because the individual is ultimately hired by the president”. He said this is primarily because the new Act has separated the position of the Commander as the prosecutor and the judge at the same time, in order to disassociate him ( Commander) from the military justice system.
Segokgo said this way, somebody else
can be the judge, whilst the Commander’s responsibility will be to ensure that if someone has broken the law, he can be taken through the military court in a process where justice will be done in a fair manner.
In relation to medical checks and tests that recruits undertake including HIV and Aids and COVID- 19, Segokgo explained that there was initially a disagreement on whether to hire people who test positive for COVID- 19.
“My argument was, COVID- 19 is a disease that is similar to flu. Doctors on the other hand were saying, it is a new disease that has many more complications that are still not known, and could expose recruits to other medical risks during rigorous training,” Segokgo said.
Segokgo said the total number of cases that BDF has registered thus far is 3001 and this includes both uniformed and non- uniformed personnel and their dependents. The total number of active cases from 21st June is 315 and the total number of recoveries is 2672 and sadly they registered 14 deaths, and a total of 837 soldiers have been vaccinated during the ongoing first round.
He said the Defence Force demographics are different from the general populace, stating that a significant portion of the army is youthful personnel and even those that are of mature age have slightly higher physical fitness than the general populace. He added that they try by all means to reinforce the COVID regulations and ensure they are strictly observed.
Responding to a question on whether there is any former or serving officer who is owed money after having served in UN missions, Segokgo said the BDF does not owe government, and government does not owe anybody any money beyond what was paid to them.
He explained that in some missions particularly UN missions, the United Nations has a contract with the sitting government, and it never had a contract with individuals unless one is working individually for the UN.
“The UN requests all its member states for contribution to a particular mission, and these foreign nations take sovereign decision to participate.
“The UN then implements a system to compensate for the loss of employment by troops, or own sovereign needs and the equipment that is associated with that deployment,” Segokgo said, adding that the UN pays out this money to sovereign governments.
Segokgo said the money that was agreed was passed onto the relevant officers. “No BDF soldiers have, and do not and will ever have a contract with the UN through the government.
“To my knowledge, there has never been this demonstration and to our knowledge all of this money has gone to individuals to include that money that is now given directly by the UN to the troops on the ground for the procurement of sundries for hygienic purpose”.