Commission ‘targets’ Khama
As the war between President Mokgweetsi Masisi and former president Ian Khama rages on, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the review of the Constitution of Botswana has made various recommendations targeting the Bangwato Kgosi.
The constitutional review according to the Commission is set to ‘help the country to correct injustices of the past’. With the former Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leader having quit his late father Sir Seretse Khama’s party on the eve of the 2019 General Election, the Commission has recommended that a retired president who has served an aggregate period of 10 years must not return to active politics.
Khama served two terms as the president of Botswana from 2008 to 2018, a period of exactly 10 years. Khama whose ‘magic’ had de-campaigned some ruling BDP bigwigs to their fall amongst others former Cabinet minister Shaw Khathi in the 2018 BDP primary elections has never left political life since he handed the baton to Masisi on April 1, 2018. Khama went on to form the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) which won all the three Serowe constituencies from the BDP in 2019.
His magic also handed over victories to the opposition in some constituencies in the north and central, something that hurt the BDP to the core.
Moreover, with allegations that Khama wanted to rule from the grave, become a defacto President and give Dikgosi powers to rule, the Commission also recommended that section 62 and 126 (1) of the Constitution be amended to provide that a person who held the Office of the President for an aggregate period of 10 years is disqualified from being President, Vice President (VP), Cabinet Minister or Member of Parliament. Section 126 (1) of the Constitution of Botswana on re-appointments and concurrent appointments indicates that where any person has vacated any office established by the Constitution, he or she may, if qualified, again be appointed or elected to hold that office in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
Another recommendation which won’t directly affect Khama but would prevent people like him from ever becoming presidents again is that the Commission has recommended that children born to Motswana and non-Motswana parents should not be permitted to occupy offices of MP, Cabinet Minister, Vice President and President and should be barred from joining the disciplined forces.
Khama was born to a Motswana and non-Motswana parents and he is the first born son of Botswana’s founding President, the late Sir Seretse Khama, and his wife the late Lady Ruth Khama.
That means had the Constitution been amended with the Commission’s current recommendations before 2008, Khama who was born in Surrey, England would have never become State President and consequently Masisi. Moreover, that means Khama who joined the paramilitary Police Mobile Unit, which was the forerunner of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in 1973 would have never become a soldier locally let alone be BDF commander.