Sebego says after a lengthy debate, lawyers attending resolved to petition Khama about ensuring that extra-judicial killings did not continue and to seek an assurance that the killings thus far recorded are fully investigated and the perpetrators brought to book.

"We need answers and assurances," he says, adding that most LSB members are concerned that extra-judicial killings were escalating. "We want the perpetrators of these killings investigated and brought to book."

So far the Office of the President has admitted to the killing of eight people by security forces, between April 2008 and April this year. The latest of these was John Kalafatis, who was gunned down gangland style by members of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) in Gaborone in May.

"If we do not get a satisfactory response to our petition, we will take up the issue with the International Criminal Court to come and investigate Botswana for crimes against humanity," Sebego says.

He says Botswana's security forces are answerable to President Khama by virtue of his position as Commander-in-Chief of the army and that even the Directorate of Security and Intelligence (DIS) reports directly to Khama.

Regarding the Media Practitioners Act, Sebego says the LSB resolved that it will not avail a representative to sit on the Appeals Committee of the Media Council of Botswana until the government and publishers have sorted out their differences.

According to section 15 of the Media Practitioners Act, the LSB has to recommend one of its members to the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology to chair the Appeals Committee.

Sebego says lawyers hold that it is unfair to participate in the Appeals Committee when the main stakeholders of a law directly affecting their profession were left out during its formulation. He says the LSB actually supports publishers who have taken the government to court over the controversial law.

To that end, the LSB is seeking an opinion regarding whether it cannot file parallel court papers on the side of publishers who are challenging the government over the controversial media law.

"If the major stakeholder is left out, what business do we have?," Sebego queries.
Besides, he argues, despite being required to recommend someone to sit on the Appeals Committee, the LSB was never consulted on its role during the drafting of the law.

Meanwhile, lawyers were in unison at their AGM that the Legal Practitioners Act is outdated and that it needs a review. Sebego says the LSB is proposing that government lawyers and those in private practice be regulated by two different laws. Both categories of lawyers are currently regulated by the Legal Practitioners Act.