The interfering hand of the Executive

Mmegi Editor | Monday June 6, 2022 06:00

As a parent, the Office of the President (OP) could have done better by simply intervening in the impasse between the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) and the DCEC well in time, rather than watching silently as the two security organs cajoled in the public domain over flimsy issues.

The turf wars between the country’s leading corruption and economic crime buster and the national spy agency are well documented and there is fear that they could have eroded public trust in the two security organs whose functions cannot be overemphasised.

It all turned ugly when Katlholo’s office and that of his staff officer were raided and sealed off by the DIS in the process denying the two officers complete access.

According to the DIS, Katlholo is facing allegations that he has killed all efforts by his investigators to probe the duo of former president Ian Khama and his ally Isaac Kgosi. The DCEC boss further faces allegations that he has refused to act on anything that implicates the duo of Khama and Kgosi in so far as allegations of possession of weapons of war are concerned.

Upon his arrival from Kigali, Rwanda, Katlholo would take the fight back to the DIS and rushed to court in an endeavour to protect certain files that he said the DIS were targeting.

He would further claim that the DIS was in fact chasing files in which some of them were facing corruption allegations running into millions of pula.

It’s worrying that Acting President, Slumber Tsogwane, and his government chose to come in only to suspend Katlholo when his office has failed to intervene at the right time with its supervisory role. We understand the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) failed to settle the differences between the duo.

There seem to be a worrying pattern here. Katlholo is suspended whilst shouting corruption allegations at the DIS. This comes at a time when the substantive Botswana Police Commissioner is also suspended from duty. Who is going to watch the DIS now?

The OP should be warned that it’s setting a very bad precedent as it continues parenting the DIS and leaving the DCEC orphaned.

The OP should be reminded that the DCEC in a few years has had a high turnover of director generals. It all started with Bruno Paledi and Joseph Mathambo who were removed from the DCEC after crying foul about the interfering hand of the DIS in their work. Now, it’s Katlholo. Will he return to complete his contract?

Today's thought

“Fate decides our future if we don’t intervene.”

– Steven Redhead