Can Khama still fly govt planes?

Patricia Maganu | Wednesday September 23, 2009 00:00

 

One of the participants and chairman for Light and Courage, Themba Mguni, raised the issue during the question and answer session.

He said he wanted to know the Ombudsman's stance now after issuing a press release sometime back that then Vice President Khama could not fly state planes.

'I say that now he is the President do you still stand by your statement or has it (position) changed?' he asked.

Other participants also wanted to know what would happen if there was a similar complaint because the Ombudsman reports to the President.

Speaking in riddles, regional Head of Station Edwin Batsalelwang said, 'the answer has not changed'.

He said that as the Ombudsman they do what the Act tells them to do and anything beyond that they would 'wash their hands' of the matter.

'We follow the Act so you cannot really accuse us of not following the Act,' he said laconically.

He said that on the issue that Khama is now President he was unable to comment.

'We make a finding and recommendation and take it to Parliament for it to get debated and that is all we can do,' he stated.

Batsalelwang also said that there is still an issue about the President's immunity.

'Maybe it is still on-going. The answer is not as simple as Maths where one-plus- one is two. We do not know whether it is maladministration or not; so I cannot answer,' he said.

Some participants stated that if the Ombudsman had been given 'a little more powers' they would probably be able to change a few 'things that are going on in some offices that are not necessarily fair to Batswana'.