Human Rights Defenders are individuals who make it their job to investigate, expose and publicise ongoing human rights abuses and it is a term that has been used to describe the work of journalists, lawyers, activists, politicians and others engaged in the process of defending human rights worldwide. In this context I wish to refer to my friend, brother and mentor, Sonny Serite as a human rights defender and shun the malicious, ill-conceived arrest of him by the Botswana Police Service.
You see, the case involving Sonny Serite, a journalist and one Abueng Sebalo, a Records Officer at the President’s Private Office is going to be an agitated kick in the abdomen to the government of the republic of Botswana. As a country we are at a state in which our moral commitment to our past seems to go about being eroded by what comes to be perceived as “The law”. In all rationality, free from political psychopathic opinions and free will to sound intelligent, “a law abiding citizen” and morally correct, Sonny Serite and Abueng Sebalo are true patriots of this nation. The law has since been crooked into an agitator of lawlessness, seduction of truth and cover up for society’s most corrupt, dubious characters. The said stolen document alone seems to possess a form of the unheard, tainted yet unasked questions. For how long has the document been in the hands of the Office of the President? What does the document contain? As presumed in some quarters that the document actually exposes corruption and dubious dealings involving top government officials in relation to the Botswana Railways, were investigations complete? Who exactly does this document implicate? What are the recommendations from the investigators in it? You see, we actually have plenty to ask in this case. We certainly cannot be daunted nor bullied into compliance that a crime was committed therefore “The Law” to prevail. We are a country that traces its roots from afar in relation to truth, respect and most of all accountability. Questions can swing through the roof, what remains, our government before it can parade any assumed criminal before the courts of law, it should show first without any doubt that the offence committed is by any means compromising the society, of which our government in this case is failing dismally. This sets really bad precedence on the part of our government. As much has some political hooligans and government daily praise poets would wish for Sonny and Mr Sebalo to rot behind bars, it is also within us with far much conscious and noticeability of reality to seek for government to disclose the content of the document and what actually has kept it shelved. It is becoming annoying that whenever a case crops involving the office of the President, a funny quota titled “classified” is swung into the public’s eyes, hell no, this isn’t a Russian movie.
