- DPP pleads for time to study LSB call for him to resign
- LSB says restoration of public confidence in the DPP won’t happen with Tiroyakgosi there
TEFO PHEAGE
The embattled head of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Stephen Tiroyakgosi, has asked for time to study and digest a statement from the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) calling for his immediate resignation for bringing the institution into disrepute.
LSB last week issued a statement to convey its disappointment in the manner in which Tiroyakgosi has been conducting himself, especially in the high profile “Butterfly” case that has received a lot of criticism as a big lie from certain quarters. Asked what his reaction to the statement was, Tiroyakgosi said he needed “time to study, digest and make a decision on the statement by LSB”.
The state is currently under immense pressure on the way forward in the Butterfly case that seems to have turned into a wild goose chase. Tiroyakgosi is at the centre of the controversy, having gone to court without evidence relating to the case.
“The resort to the practice of charging individuals on dictation from the DIS, without any probable cause, has taken away any pretenses of integrity that our criminal justice had” the LSB statement reads in part. “The presentation of fabricated evidence before the courts and the desire of the DPP to want to give detailed directions as to how investigations are to be carried out with the intention of ensuring that there is a conviction destroys public confidence in the workings of the DPP.”
According to the powerful body that regulates the legal profession, Tiroyakgosi has dismally failed to maintain the prosecutorial independence of his office and has brought the institution into disrepute. “There are now doubts in the minds of right thinking members of the public in respect of whether prosecutorial powers are routinely used in the pursuit of partisan political objectives and in advancing other nefarious interests,” LSB said.
There is an urgent need for restoration of public confidence in the workings of the prosecutorial arm of the state, the statement added. “In our respectful view, such restoration is not possible so long as Mr. Tiroyakgosi continues to occupy the office of DPP,” it said. “The Law Society of Botswana therefore regrettably calls for the immediate resignation of Mr. Tiroyakgosi from office so that much needed work to restore public confidence in the work of the DPP can start.”