No DIS supervision: Kgosi faults Parliament
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DISS Boss Isaac Kgosi
The Director General of the Directorate on Intelligence and Security Services (DISS) Isaac Kgosi told the Public Accounts Committee this week that a dysfunctional Parliamentary Tribunal that oversees the operations of the intelligence organisation is to blame for lack of oversight on his organisation.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Tati East Member of Parliament Guma Moyo, Kgosi avoided most questions which he deemed infringed on security matters, stated that he could not respond due to ‘security reasons’. The spy boss could not even divulge to PAC the success of the DIS, reiterating that it was for security reasons.
Procurement and general operations of the security organ as well as its spending were part of the details which Kgosi could not share with the PAC. In less than 30 minutes, the DIS boss walked out having told the leading parliamentary oversight committee only what he wanted them to hear.
Kgosi told the committee that the perception that DIS does not account to anyone has nothing to do with him but the oversight bodies which have for years failed to convene a meeting that would summon the DIS boss.
“It is a matter which is beyond me. I cannot account to myself or I cannot cause the meeting to take place because there is oversight body mandated to do that,” he said.
The paralysis of Intelligence and Security Parliamentary Committee has left the country’s secret service organ with only the president to account to. Opposition MPs Ndaba Gaolathe and Shaun Nthaile have declined to sit in the committee. The committee has been dysfunctional since the 10th parliament.
In 2014, members of the Intelligence and Security Parliamentary Committee, Bagalatia Arone, and former MP for Mmopane-Lentsweletau Major General Moeng Pheto resigned from the committee amid reports that its chairperson Kagiso Molatlhegi refused to convene a sitting to summon the DIS director to appear before the committee over corruption allegations that were doing rounds in the media at that time.
In this week’s sitting, PAC had wanted Kgosi to justify the P500 million budget allocated to the eight year old organisation. Guma was of the view that perhaps disclosure of the success of the intelligence organ will help erase the negative perception about the DIS.
In the current financial year, Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security was allocated the biggest share of the development budget. Of the P14 billion budget for development, P3.59 billion or 24.2 percent was allocated to Ministry of Defence Justice and Security with justification that the money will mainly cater for provision of defence equipment, communication equipment, and infrastructure, in order to improve BDF’s defence capabilities. While sharing that most of their criticism on defence spending is influenced by ignorance, Kgosi said Botswana must actually spend more.
When quizzed on whether the country needs to spend more on defence, Kgosi stated that the national budget on security organs, including Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Botswana Police and Botswana Prisons is very low and could not sufficiently protect the country and its citizens.
“We are spending peanuts on the defence organs, looking at the fact that military and intelligence equipment is very expensive to buy,” he said.
“They say pay peanuts and attract monkeys, and that is what we are getting. We need more spending on defence and security.”
Kgosi also said defence spending is not helped by the fact that the equipment which the security entities buy is procured in foreign currencies and this makes it even more expensive.
The DIS boss was also asked if Botswana is facing immediate threat to justify high military spending, and he answered in the affirmative. “Our friends could be our enemies tomorrow, and we need to be prepared militarily,” he said.
Guma had put it to Kgosi that the DIS’s procurement is too secretive to an extent that it raises eye brows given the amount which is allocated to the organ.
“When we are dealing with procurement with regard to the budget which is allocated to the DIS, it is natural that people will question the use of such money if there is no transparency,’ said Guma.
Furthermore, Kgosi said it is important that information regarding procurement of military equipment is kept secret to avoid a situation where ‘enemies’ are privy to the strength or weakness of the country’s security.
“What I have learnt about Batswana is that; they will only speak well about you at your funeral. Batswana are never satisfied and they will never appreciate even when good things are being done. Batswana are liars,” he said, prompting PAC members to force him to retract the words ‘Batswana are liars.’
It was not for the first time he appeared before the same committee as last year when he appeared before it.
The outspoken spy boss went on to quash allegations of DIS being implicated in a number of killings of ordinary citizens. MP for Franscistown West, who is a member of PAC, Ignatious Moswaane had wanted to know the authenticity of allegations doing rounds pertaining to the orchestration the death of some citizens.
Guma also seized the moment and asked the DIS Director if Gaolathe’s life was under threat especially in the wake of reports that the leader of Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) was a target of assassins.
“Gaolathe’s life is not under threat, but if it is, I will make sure that he gets the protection that he needs,” he said.
The intelligence chief also told PAC that among the biggest challenges faced by the country is drug dealing, human trafficking, smuggling of diamonds and money laundering.
Kgosi stated that because Botswana has an environment which is not well known for those kinds of criminal activities, it is becoming an easy target for criminals.
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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”
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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks
President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.
“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”
In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.
It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.
Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.
President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”
In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”
He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.
“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”
Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”
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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV
Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.
“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”
Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.
“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”
He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.
Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.
Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”
“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”
Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.
“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”