Sesupo Rantsimako
Umbrella for Democracy President Duma Boko and his VP Dumelang Saleshando have called on outgoing Botswana president, Ian Khama, to stop receiving presents in his farewell tour as it is ‘heartless’, ‘shameful’ and potentially ‘corrupt.’
“He cannot be seen going around collecting presents from the poor people who are even struggling to make a living. This is totally unacceptable considering that Khama has never struggled in his entire life like many poor people he is taking presents from. Instead Khama should be shameful,” Saleshando told a UDC rally over the weekend.
Boko took the criticism a notch up, saying Khama who does not declare the presents he receives in different villages is being corrupt because the so-called presents could be bribes from people currying favour with the president. “Some of the people might be disguising while in actual fact they are bribing the president to do something for them or are rewarding him for what he has already done for them. Therefore, this is why we challenge Khama to stop receiving these presents,” he said.
Boko also took a swipe at public servants who go around soliciting presents for the president noting that doing so is corrupt.
Babirwa gave Khama a 51-strong herd of cattle with 10 Simmental calves donated by MP Kgathi, two zebras, 27 goats, 8 sheep, 8 chickens, 800 bags of 12.5kg of sorghum meal from Farmers Pride, P44 000 in money from the public, 44 artefacts, pigeons, bicycle, binoculars and many other things.
Political Analyst Anthony Morima sees nothing wrong with this act of generosity from Batswana towards Khama. “I cannot say Khama is being corrupt because he has never asked for those presents, Batswana are thanking him out of the love they have and morally this is what Batswana are known for. Even though he has failures there’s also a lot of things he did for this country and he should be thanked for that,” he explained.