Khama should desist from dirty campaigns

Mmegi Editor | Monday March 4, 2024 06:00

However, as a newspaper, we want to raise few disquiets for the umpteenth time with Khama, of course, and remind him that the country that he is robustly de-campaigning is now feeling the pain of his harm. Batswana need Khama to use his conservationist credentials to good use and benefit a country that is working so hard to achieve the high-income status by diversifying its economy away from diamond reliance.

Khama has played his part unobstructed during his tenure as Vice President and later President for 20 continuous years. Now, he has to let the incumbent State President Mokgweetsi Masisi, whom he fought so hard to install, to do his duties uninterrupted. As skirmishes between Khama and Masisi continue to unfold, we want to take this opportunity to remind the former president that if there is anything problematic about Masisi, he should know best that he (Khama) brought all the troubles upon himself. Khama has been enthusiastically de-campaigning his own country as he did in his latest trips to the United Kingdom and other destinations. Going forward, this might have debilitating effects on our diamond-reliant economy as it happened previously. Our former president has been lobbying lawmakers to impose a ban on Botswana’s trophy hunting.

His latest move has, however, backfired as it has brought him face-to-face with the wildlife trusts across the country that feel their livelihoods are threatened by Khama’s latest manoeuvres. These are trusts that depend on trophy hunting as a means of sustenance. The trusts’ explanation is that the ban as currently proposed carries substantial risks for conservation and livelihoods. Numerous experts, including many leading conservation scientists and community conservationists, have corroborated these risks. Hunting is regarded as a conservation tool to empower communities, as it does not include animals classified as endangered species or vulnerable. Khama the politician, who is also a patron of a BDP splinter party known as the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), must also tread carefully as he campaigns to stifle the same communities that he might fail to convince tomorrow as his party canvasses for votes out there as the country goes for the national polls this year. Khama and his family members decided to go on a self-imposed exile in neighbouring South Africa. This is after the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) had claimed he ‘inappropriately’ possessed ‘weapons of war.’ A fortnight ago, a High Court of Botswana even declared Khama a ‘fugitive’. Khama has, however, dismissed the charges against him simply as ‘injustices’.

In the best interest of his country and his status as a statesman, Khama should stop soiling the good name of his country and his own and instead should enjoy his retirement from active politics. Happy birthday SKI!

“I think patriotism is like charity - It begins at home”

– Henry James