I have in the last several weeks watched with utter horror how the media has day after day and week after week accused me of great crimes tried me of those crimes convicted me of those crimes and lynched my character in public square.
It is unclear to me why anybody who had cause to suspect me of having committed acts of corruption should prefer to report them to the media and not to law enforcement agencies of which our country has at least a few. At no time have I, prior to the onslaught by the Media, declined to cooperate with any investigation by any law enforcement agencies. I have considered and have been hesitant to engage with Media and answer allegations as I feared that might compromise investigations which I was aware the Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime was conducting into some of the allegations which have appeared in the Media.
I now have been advised in view of the fact that the publication of the accusations in the Media continues and has reached new levels of hysteria to offer my version to the degree that I am lawfully permitted to do. I have also been advised that my continued silence might be construed as an affirmation of my purported guilt. Accordingly, I have decided that I should answer such of the allegations as I am competent to do so. As I understand it, the accusations have been made concerning me personally and have not been directed at the Directorate of Intelligence and Security services (“DISS”). Consequently, I am writing in a personal capacity and not in any capacity on behalf of the DISS.
It is not possible for me to answer every allegation that has been made in the Media. Some are so gross and outrageous they do not merit the dignity of a response. Others concern the operations of the DISS which are covert in nature and could not be disclosed without compromising matters of national security. Botswana like practically every country has intelligence organizations whose operations, by their nature (because of the necessity to protect national security) are secret and others convert. Some of the allegations made in the Media concern my personal assets, the assets of my family, and our personal and private affairs. I have been advised that, like the writers in the media who have engaged in unmitigated onslaught against me, my family and I have a right to privacy from undue public scrutiny which is constitutionally protected. I will, to show my bona fides and to expose the malicious persecution for what it is, curtail that right for current purposes only.
Accordingly I will; answe5r some of the allegations which concern our assets. I have not entirely been without money to afford some amenities of life that many Batswana, including writers in the Pres, have come to take for granted. I have been a public officer since 1977 when I first joined the Botswana Defence Force (“the BDF”). Within the BDF I rose through the ranks with corresponding financial rewards . From there I joined the office of the president as Senior Private Secretary on the E1 salary scale in 1998. In April 2008 I became Director General of the DISS on the F1 salary scale. I have also made investments. I have, in all that time used money I earned from my job and investments and from my savings and loans to acquire various assets.
I personally own 2 vehicles, a Land rover Discovery and a BMW M5. The Land rover I acquired using a Barclays Bank loan I obtained in December 2013. The vehicle cost P651, 974.72. I am still servicing that loan. In 2011 I acquired the 2009 BMW as a used vehicle using my personal savings. It cost $34, 928.26. On importation of the vehicle, BURS was paid P127, 745.10 by Zebra Shipping, the shipping and clearing agents in the normal course of business. And I refunded this to that company. The silver Toyota Prado does NOT belong to me; it belongs to my wife who purchased it using a loan she obtained from Barclays Bank in 2011 in her own right. My job comes with a vehicle and it does not belong to me. The allegation that I own vehicles worth P2.7 million is patently false.
United Kingdom (“the UK”) Banking Account As is normal for foreigners living and studying in the UK, including Batswana, I opened a banking account at Barclays Bank for my personal use when I was studying in the UK before I joined DISS. The account is dormant. Our Phakalane Residence My wife and I contracted L T & Associates Limited to build our housed. That company is owned, NOT by Harry Tembo who I did not know and have never met, but by Mr. Liver Tembo who currently lives in Zambia having recently relocated from Botswana. As is usual, L T & associates sub contracted Power Force, a company belonging to Mr. Mpesene Jere, another national of Zambia to do some of the work on the hosed in 2005. Power Force and other service providers occasionally do maintenance on behalf of the DISS. L T & Associates were as they were doing the work being paid on my behalf out of funds belonging to us held in the trust account of Collins Newman & Co. The contractor claimed more money than was due by some P690 000.
It became necessary for the contractor to pay the money back and that is the behalf in which Mr Liver Tembo signed on behalf of his company, an acknowledgement of dent in writing undertaking to pay that money back. When the DISS was established in 2008, it took over some of the functions and on-going operations of Botswana police security intelligence Service, formerly the Special Branch, personnel and current suppliers. One of them was a company owned by Teeza Seduke. This company had in any event, provided services to many Government Departments even before DISS was founded. It was awarded contracts through normal processes which are subject to audit by the appropriate authorities in the normal way. …. To be continued
