"I have nothing to apologise for," he said. Skelemani related how a certain Kenyan named Muriti had called him after the Mmegi report in which he asserted that Kenyatta should not set foot in Botswana if he does not cooperate with the ICC. Speaking fluent Setswana, Muriti asked Skelemani to apologise. "I told him that I was not apologising," Skelemani said.He added that Muriti claimed to work in Kenyatta's office. "I have never spoken to the foreign press about Kenyatta," he insisted. "I wonder where the claim that I have apologised comes from".The Kenyan Daily Post first reported yesterday that the minister had apologised to the people of Kenya.
Mmegi, along with other international news outlets such as the BBC, further reproduced the "official apology" that the Kenyan newspaper attributed to Skelemani.Meanwhile, government issued a statement yesterday "to clarify a recent statement attributed to the Minister Phandu Skelemani on the question of the ICC and its processes".The government said the minister's statement relating to a hypothetical visit to Botswana by Kenya's President-elect was aimed at merely explaining the rules of the ICC and obligations of members of the court. "In this context, he indicated that as can be expected, any member of the court is bound by its rules," the statement said.
