FRANCISTOWN: Former President L.t Dr Ian Khama Seretse Khama has demanded that President Mokgweetsi Masisi and the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) be prosecuted for the P100 billion theft case that he (Khama) has been implicated in.
Khama, who is the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) Patron, was speaking during a rally in Natale Village recently. The BPF held a rally in Natale village in Shashe West Constituency to welcome Jeremiah Frenzel, a former BDP councilor for Natale and Makobo villages,who defected from the ruling party.
“I was accused of stealing P100 billion from government coffers and it has since turned out to be a blue lie. Shockingly the said missing money is alleged to have been stolen around 2008 during my tenure as the leader of the BDP. If that is the case, then I was not alone when I stole the money as Masisi was also in the BDP and yet he said nothing. It clearly means that the BDP taught me how to steal and Masisi should also be held accountable for such a crime,” he said.
Khama together with, former Directorate Of Intelligence and Services (DIS) Director Isaac Kgosi and South African prominent businesswoman Bridget Motsepe were implicated in a case in which Wilhelmina Maswabi, a DIS agent code named “Butterfly” was charged with financing terrorism in an attempt to cause regime change in Botswana
It is alleged that P100 billion was stolen from Bank of Botswana to finance such a mission. However, Bank of Botswana has since denied that such an amount is missing from its coffers. The then Director of Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) Peter Mathambo was quoted in the media having said that indeed money was stolen.
Some of the charges against “Butterfly” have since been withdrawn by the state and the case will continue in February 2021.
“Me and my sibling Tshekedi Khama, Biggie Butale and others decided to leave BDP, a party that was founded by my father Sir Seretse Khama because we realized that it had lost direction and moral ground. The party has deviated from serving the interests of Batswana but it now serves individuals,” said Khama.
He said the current BDP regime is one of the worst disasters to ever happen to this country after the Corvid 19 pandemic. He emphasized that the only solution is to vote out the BDP in the upcoming 2024 elections. He condemned the BDP government for stopping programmes he started under his administration such as ISPAAD, Economic Stimulus Programme(ESP) and Presidential Housing Appeal. He further accused Shashe West legislator who is also the Minister of Basic Education Fidelis Molao for failing his constituency.
“The only solution is for you to vote him out of power in the coming elections as he has failed your constituency. You should vote BPF or the Umbrella for Democratic Change in the coming elections so that we remove BDP from power,” he said.
BPF is currently working with the Umbrella for Democratic Change ahead of the 2024 elections to unseat the BDP from power.
