Masisi pushes Khama to the brink
Oarabile Mosikare | Friday October 26, 2018 18:00
This surprise withdrawal of staff, which Khama said was not communicated to him, takes effect from October 31 next week.
Interestingly, Khama only discovered early this week that on November 1, he would no longer have government cooks and helpers at his official residence, as they have been all recalled without any replacement.
The now dejected former president disclosed that he had initially negotiated with the then incoming president, Mokgweetsi Masisi and permanent secretary to the President (PSP) Carter Morupisi, in March this year for the staff complement at his [Khama] office and residence and Masisi assured him saying, “You can choose whoever you want”.
Khama said both men also agreed to his request to get one extra helper at his official residence in addition to the two that he says he was entitled to as per the Constitution.
This week, Khama was shocked to find out that the OP, without any consultation has withdrawn six of his chosen staff members.
Other staff members who have been recalled from Office of the Former President III (OFPIII) are the chief administration officer, driver and a gardener. Mmegi has seen the withdrawal letters dated October 15th signed by the permanent secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Thuso Ramodimoosi.
Khama revealed to this publication that when he sought clarification from Ramodimoosi, the PS told him that Morupisi instructed him.
The former president further disclosed that Ramodimoosi had told him that PSP said he consulted with him [Khama] on the staff changes.
Khama did not speak kindly of the treatment he is currently receiving from Morupisi.
“He lied. It reflects the character of a man [Morupisi] I am talking about. That he could even lie to his own staff saying that he consulted me and I have agreed. Would I agree that all my staff should be withdrawn?” Khama rhetorically asked.
According to Khama, the PS told him that he was not given any instruction on replacements. This means that the bachelor pensioner that is Khama would have to fend for himself through the home chores as all of his government supplied helpers have been ordered out of his official residence.
Although Khama said “I do not know” whether President Masisi knows about the staff recall he reflected acidly, “The way I worked before, PSP could not take a decision without the confidence that he has the backing of the President”.
Defiant Khama moves to sue
The recall has visibly upset Khama and he has decided on a legal battle.
“I have instructed my lawyers, Collins Newman, that they must take legal action because this is unreasonable and goes against an agreement,” he said.
A few weeks ago, Khama agreed to a cease-fire after the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) elders approached him with an olive branch proposal to mend their relations with his successor.
Khama said he had obliged to the request of the party elders and even stopped pursuing the Isaac Kgosi matter through the court as he initially planned.
Masisi had fired Kgosi as the spy chief and Khama inevitably put through his name as his chosen candidate for private secretary at OFPIII. After President Masisi’s refusal to appoint Kgosi, Khama threatened to take the matter to court.
“We put it [Kgosi case] on hold because the elders had asked me not to go to court. But I have [now] lifted that restriction on myself. [Parks] Tafa is back and I am taking it up with him after this [staff recall],” disclosed Khama.
‘I’m being harassed’
This week Khama spoke with some fierce defiance against Masisi and was interestingly overly contemptuous of Morupisi labelling him a “liar” whose meetings with him are a “big waste of time”.
The former president gave a list of Morupisi’s “deliberate lies” saying it is such treatment that he “does not see the light at the end of the tunnel” with regard to peace between OP and OFPIII.
Khama believes that OP does not want any peaceful resolution on their impasse with him because their actions are meant to harass and embarrass him.
Seemingly, Khama is now treated like a bogeyman by Masisi’s administration. All civil servants must check with OP before engaging with the former president.
Khama, who has been blacked out of State media, said civil servants have been ordered by OP to cancel their invitations to him with reasons that they have not followed protocol.
“I am just accepting invitations. I have been invited to school prize-giving ceremonies and on three occasions those invitations were suddenly withdrawn because those schools were told by the ministry that they have not followed procedures,” he said.
Khama said during the build-up to the Illegal Wildlife Trade Summit in London, the director of Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) Otisitswe Tiroyamodimo was instructed to cancel the meeting he was scheduled to have with Khama.
He said in an endeavour to get an update on issues regarding the elephant poaching saga that was sparked by Dr Mike Chase’s Elephant Without Borders (EWB), he arranged a brief meeting with Tiroyamodimo, but it never materialised.
Khama said he needed to have the full information of the story because he was invited by the London media to discuss a topic on elephant conservation so he wanted to get the official version so that it would not differ from government’s.
Responding to why he does not reach out to his predecessor to end the impasse since he is an elder in the equation, Khama said he does not see the need to do it because OP is the one that started it.
Khama said, “If the President wants to meet me he can make a call. He is the President. I wouldn’t refuse to meet him if he says he wants a meeting. But I don’t see the need for me to initiate it because I’m just the recipient of the darts”.
Khama says Masisi is “not sincere and genuine” with his reconciliation intentions as his office continues to take decisions that are meant to ‘harass and embarrass’ him.
“I made all commitments to them, to the party and to the country. I have not changed. I am playing my part. The ball is in their court,” he said.