Gov't to reimburse Khama
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday August 9, 2021 06:28
According to the judgment delivered by Justice Gabriel Komboni on August 4, 2021, Masisi’s refusal to grant Khama the use of a government aircraft was unlawful. Komboni declared that from now onwards Khama is entitled to using government-owned modes of transport and Masisi is not empowered to deny the former president such entitlement. “In other words, the President cannot refuse to fund first-class international air travel for the former president except one that exceeds the prescribed four trips. It is also clear that the President cannot refuse to pay per diem for the international trips. His role is to determine the amount of per diem for the trip,” further read the judgment.
The applicant, Khama was seeking review of Masisi’s refusal to grant him the use of government-owned transport, particularly aircraft. The other impugned decisions were those that denied Khama the benefit of international air travel to India and the withdrawal of security detail by the Director-General of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security, Peter Fana Magosi in respect of the said trip to India.
Komboni concluded that Masisi acted illegally and irrationally when he refused to grant Khama access to the requested aircraft. Also, the court declared the decisions taken by Magosi on July 6 and 14, 2019, to commence disciplinary action against the detail that provided Khama with security during the trip to India as unlawful. “The law requires that he (Khama) be protected by such officers. The disciplinary action taken against such officers for reasons that are contrary to the law has a direct impact on the applicant’s safety.”
Khama argued that all these decisions that were taken between March 19, 2019, and June 19, 2019, were unlawful as they are a violation of his rights, entitlements and privileges as a former president.