Khama is a threat to regional stability-Boko
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Leader of Opposition in parliament who is also president of the main opposition party, Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), Duma Boko has characterised President Lieutenant General Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama’s military expenditure as having a possibility of triggering an arms race in the sub region.
Boko stated this on Wednesday as part of his response to Khama’s State of the Nation Address delivered on Monday. He stated that during both Khama’s tenures in the army and as head of state; he presided over extremely wasteful and ill-advised military expenditure.
He further alleged that expensive military hardware that bled the country hundreds of millions of Pula is gathering dust in the armouries of Botswana Defence Force (BDF):
“There is, as we speak, over 500 tons of Mark 82 bombs and F5 Rockets that have gone past both their operational and shelf life without ever being used. This is military equipment that has set the country back by over 300 million Pula. It is money gone to waste while our people are down in the dumps, catching hell.”
Boko continued: “He is the same person who nearly sparked off an arms race in the region by seeking to purchase F4 Phantom fighter aircraft, with inflight refuelling capability, from Turkey, an acquisition that was prevented when South Africa raised alarm.”
“It means they can go from here to DRC. Who are we trying to impress? What it can only do is trigger an arms race in the region. It’s extremely dangerous. It renders the whole region volatile,” he said. Boko who likened Khama to an emperor claimed that the BDF has 8 Bell 412 helicopters, three of which are set aside for the president’s exclusive use.
“These are the H 04, which is an Augusta Bell, the H 07 and the H 08. These are very modern helicopters available for his exclusive use.” He continued: “Yet what does this emperor do? At a time when the country is facing economic hardship which results in closures of mines and massive job losses, he purchases an EC 225 Supa Puma helicopter for his own exclusive use and enjoyment.
Our people are caught up in the death grip of poverty and unemployment, yet their president is abusing their resources on himself and his eccentricities. State owned enterprises are retrenching and sending many people into a bleak future, and our president is busy feeding his frenzy and satisfying his extravagant pastimes; buying a luxury helicopter for over 300 million Pula!”
He further stated that the cost of transporting the helicopter to Botswana in the Antonov aircraft that brought it here was well over 5 million Pula. He continued to say that as if that was not enough, Khama then took over 10 Billion Pula and applied it to the purchase of Grippen Fighter jets that the country does not need.
“A single Gripen jet equates to the combat power of a whole battalion. Such combat power and capability is not only totally unnecessary, it is prohibitively expensive, considering we will never get to use it unless our belligerent conduct angers our neighbours and triggers an arms race that will leave the security situation in the region highly volatile and dangerous.”
Boko further stated that when Khama ascended to the presidium on April 1st in 2008, he inherited a country whose institutions were genuinely the envy of the world. He stated that while they were not perfect his predecessors bequeathed to him a sound foundation from which it was possible to build world class institutions which would transform the country’s socio economic and political fortunes.
He said that what happened next, however, is that the Khama regime chose to squander the advantages handed to it, “and offered us a dead-end disguised as a path. In many ways our nation is worse off today than it was when the current administration took over the reins.”
Boko further noted that Khama does not bear the blame alone stating that all those who comprised his team are equally culpable. “All those who elected to be safe and cozy in their timorous silence are equally to blame,” Boko levelled the accusation.
Boko further continued to state that the Khama administration is either reluctant or unwilling to set any targets for itself.
“To date no one knows how many jobs the administration hopes to catalyse each year during the 11th Development Plan period; no one knows how many engineers, artisans or technicians the administration hopes to churn out; how many professionals, business people and other experts our immigration system will grant residence to assist our economy to grow. No one wants to commit to just how much and by what order of magnitude to diversify our economy as well as our export base.”
He also further stated that the executive branch of government thrives on projecting to the outside world an image of a well-functioning, three-arm democratic set up when in reality it has weakened the other two arms.
He explained this by stating that the country’s parliament by tradition reports to the Office of the President, and has no budget office of its own or fully fledged bill-drafting units. He also stated that parliament of Botswana cannot make its own economic projections or carry out its own sector impact studies.
According to him, the unfortunate reality is that even the ruling party back bench lacks the courage to exercise frank and plain speech, except sometimes for Francistown MP, Ignatius Moswaane and ruling party Chief Whip, Liakat Kablay, whose position as Chief Whip is however under threat.
He further described the executive branch as an albatross that chokes the other branches and lacks any commitment to genuine democratic ideals and practices. “The consequences of this imbalance are dire: an unaccountable and incompetent Government that lacks the will and disposition to transform the lives of our people,” he said
He also waded into the contentious topic of the four suspended High Court judges, when he said, “Does the fact of their favourable treatment by the same President that suspended their brethren not compromise them and render them favourably disposed toward the executive in some quid pro quo? How can the ordinary citizen or any litigant trust such a judiciary to dispense justice without fear and without reproach?”
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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.”