The government has fired two deputy directors at the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC).
The two Directors have been working at DCEC for less than a year.
Head of Investigations, Intelligence and Legal Service Division, Peter Gregory, is expected to leave office at the end of this month while Russel Allen, who is responsible for training and development, will leave office at the end of March this year.
The two were hired following recommendations by a consultancy. One of the recommendations was that DCEC had to deal with public perceptions that the directorate was not sufficiently independent.
Concerns were also raised of insufficient technical depth, especially in the field of investigation.
One of the sacked directors was the Chief Investigator in a case of corruption involving former Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Ndelu Seretse.
Seretse is President Ian Khama’s cousin as well as close relation to DCEC Head, Rose Seretse.
The government took the decision to sack the two directors after numerous discussions about their performance.
It is understood that the two were once called to the Ministry of Defense, Justice and Security at which they complained about lack of resources and political interferences during execution of their duties.
The two also complained about lack of political will when it came to cases that implicate high profile people.
They are said to have registered discomfort about the inordinate lengths of time it took to bring such cases to the directorate for investigation.
Concerns were also raised that where investigations were completed it took even longer for the Directorate of Public Prosecution to act.
The two deputies, who are British nationals, were recruited after the government engaged a consultant on anti corruption strategy and recommended that the DCEC should engage international experts to deal with corruption related issues.
The Public Relations Officer at the DCEC, Lentswe Motshoganetsi, referred the Telegraph to the Ministry of Defense, Justice and Security where the Permanent Secretary there, Augustine Makgonatsotlhe, said he could only comment after receiving written questions.
The Telegraph contacted the Acting Minister, Edwin Butshu, who said, “I am still in a meeting but why don’t you speak to the director of DCEC?”
Some DCEC investigators, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of victimization, told the Telegraph that “political interference is very high; it hampers our investigations and we do not know how it will be stopped”.
