Venson-Moitoi calls for international campaign funds
Innocent Selatlhwa | Wednesday February 15, 2017 16:41
“I could not do it just before I contested for this seat, it was going to look wrong as it would be like I am doing it for myself,” she said during a press briefing on her journey to seek African Union Commission (AUC) Chairpersonship race which she lost to Chad’s Mousa Mohamat.
Venson-Moitoi said there was no budget in place for her campaign but that she would be allowed to do campaigns while on official trips within Africa.
She thanked President Ian Khama for allowing her to contest and also supporting her throughout. “I was not expecting the government to splash lots of money in my campaign when there are pressing matters like the BCL closure, I was supported in this campaign also by Batswana who contributed in many different ways, my son’s company almost went bankrupt due to his input in my campaign,” she said.
Meanwhile Venson-Moitoi did not rule out a possibility of trying her luck again in the future for an international position. “I have made it clear that I am leaving political office in 2019, but I do not like to sit with nothing to do, so I will see what happens,” she said.
Venson-Moitoi defended President Khama for his non-attendance saying it had no bearing on the outcome of elections as other contestants also did not have their presidents present. “The reason why he does not attend the AU is because there used to be an outcry that former President Festus Mogae used to be accused of being an absent President. President Khama then decided that he deals with SADC and Botswana while AU and European Union will be dealt with by the Vice President,” she said.
Meanwhile Venson-Moitoi said Morocco was admitted to the AU whereupon Botswana and nine other countries had reservations as Morocco wanted to be admitted with certain conditions they were against. “Botswana remains committed to the independence of Western Sahara and will continue to work with like-minded countries to defend the sovereignity of Western Sahara,” she said.
She said the summit adopted what is called the International Criminal Court (ICC) Withdrawal Strategy. She said Botswana and many of the State parties to the Rome statute maintain that there is no recognised notion of collective withdrawal from international agreements; that the decision to ratify or to withdraw from any treaty is a unilateral decision by a sovereign State.