Khama a militia sponsor - Hamasaka

…as he discloses that Government had known for years about former Botswana President’s links to a militia group in Zambia, discloses that Gen Khama has been to State House to meet President Hichilema allegedly lobbying for his personal interest By NATION REPORTER STATE House has accused former Botswana president Lt Gen Ian Seretse Khama of sponsoring militia groups in Zambia, disclosing that the Zambian Government had known about the alleged activities for years. State House Chief Communications Specialist Clayson Hamasaka says the Government was aware of Gen Khama’s alleged involvement long before his recent characterisation of President Hakainde Hichilema as Africa’s newest dictator. Gen Khama, during the Botswana’s Ntlo Ya Dikgosi (House of Chiefs) session asked his government whether there were any regrets that his country attended the inauguration of President Hichilema, who according to him was emerging as Africa’s newest dictator. “With the stated position of Botswana as upholding the rule of law, democracy and human rights, with hindsight, does the minister regret that we attended the inauguration of Africa’s newest dictator in Zambia, after they have violated all these principles that we uphold?” Gen Khama asked. But Mr Hamasaka curtly responded that Government was going to competently respond to statements by the former Botswana President only after “we hear he has finally married.” “We have been seeing some of his Facebook page posts and we ignored him, but hypocrisy is him not declaring interest that some of the culprits currently under police detection are his personal relatives. Ian Khama was basically among the individuals sponsoring militia group in Zambia. And this we knew years before,” Mr Hamasaka said in a post on his Facebook yesterday. Mr Hamasaka also questioned the former Botswana President’s credibility and said State House would respond to his recent statements at an appropriate time. He accused Gen Khama of hypocrisy, alleging that some of the people currently under police detection were his personal relatives. “We will competently respond to statements allegedly made by the former Botswana Parliament Ian Khama when we hear he has finally married. We want to engage any of his children in discussion,” Mr Hamasaka said. Mr Hamasaka has questioned Gen Khama’s conduct, saying his criticism of President Hichilema was difficult to reconcile with his previous engagements with the Zambian head of State. “Of all the leaders of Botswana, Ian Khama is the weirdest human being. He has been to the Zambian State House and met President Hakainde Hichilema lobbying for his personal interest, and today he labels him as a dictator,” Mr Hamasaka said. He said State House had previously seen posts by Gen Khama on Facebook but had chosen to ignore them. Mr Hamasaka also questioned comments attributed to Lt Gen Khama about Zambia, saying the two countries had longstanding relations and extensive family ties. “We even doubt he is a true Batwsana person, because those people are extremely disciplined and respectful to other people. We have lots of inter marriage between Zambia and Botswana so we can’t believe those statements are attributed to a former President. We didn’t even know he is actually a Member of Parliament in Botswana,” Mr Hamasaka said. ENDS

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