Bush would not take any questions
Bame Piet | Thursday April 6, 2017 16:29
Among the media houses that were present were the New York Times, Reuters, Washington Times as well as Mmegi, Sunday Standard, Btv and Botswana Press Agency.
The staff from USA Embassy would not allow any questions to the man who oversaw the removal of Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein following the September 11, 2001 attacks (called Operation Desert Storm) in his country.
“How do they preach democracy and free press to us when we cannot even ask them questions about their democracies?” asked one incredulous journalist after he was waved away as he tried to file a question to the former president and his wife.
Not only was the journo and others ignored.Our police officers looked like intruders in their own country. Kept at bay and a good distance from the couple, their place was taken by the USA Secret Service.
Nonetheless, the former President landed at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport just after 9am and headed to Tlokweng Clinic where the Minister of Health, Dorcas Makgato had waited since 7:30am, and had almost lost patience with the waiting. They held close door meetings with the officials, which was followed by a brief tour of the stalls that were erected at the clinic.
At the height of the AIDS epidemic in Botswana, former President Festus Mogae made an appeal for international assistance in the early years of Bush presidency in 2000, the appeal which gave birth to the Presidential Emergency Plan for Africa Relief (PEPFAR).
Through PEPFAR, the US Government was able to provide assistance to many African countries, including Botswana with provision for funding for procurement of Anti Retroviral Therapy, as well as voluntary testing, home-based care and public education.
“I am proud that the US assistance has helped save 11 million lives of Africans, and we shall continue to help the continent. The relations between the US and Botswana continue to be strong to this day,” Bush said to the gathered crowd.
The couple also visited Therisanyo Primary School in Old Naledi where they met a group of pupils aged between nine and 13 years who were recently vaccinated against Human Papilloma Virus, which causes cervical cancer.
Bush was touched by the fact that thousands of women continue to die from breast and cervical cancers though the two
conditions can be cured. He said through his Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative, an independent affiliate of the George W. Bush Institute, he will fight to ensure millions of lives of young women are saved on the continent and beyond.
“I still could not believe that thousands of women are at risk of losing their lives to a disease that can be controlled and cured. I am of the view that the good things that have worked well for us should be maintained,” he said.
At the same time as Bush was in Botswana promising assistance, the US President Donald Trump was making an announcement that his Government will cut assistance to the outside world and that he is not going to be the President for the world, but for America.