"Khama's absence at UN not a big deal"

Botswana’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Charles Ntwaagae says it does not make any difference whether President Lt. Gen. Dr Ian Khama attends the United Nations general assembly or doesn’t.

Speaking to The Midweek Sun on the sidelines of the Heads of Mission conference in Gaborone on whether the absence of Khama at UN assemblies is a source of concern for other diplomats and countries and whether there is any direct impact on Botswana, Ntwaagae responded:

“Not at all. It makes no difference. I must say whether or not our president goes to the general assembly does not affect the implementation of the development programmes here at home which are implemented through UNDP and other UN agencies. There is no direct impact and he is not the only leader who is not able to come up there. It is not unusual and it is not an issue with fellow diplomats at all,” Ntwaagae told The Midweek Sun.

The New York based Ambassador revealed that not all Heads of State attend the General Assembly sessions of the United Nations, which are held annually and called on regular sessions of the Assembly. Some leaders, he said, choose to go to some. “There are years when we have special sessions like the one we had in 2015 which was adopting the new development agenda on sustainable goals.”

He said some leaders choose to attend those sessions because there is a special session. “But, it is not always possible for leaders to attend sessions of the general assembly, they delegate.  Now what has been happening is that our own President, Dr Ian Khama in recent years delegated his Vice President, Mokgweetsi Masisi.

“It is quite appropriate; it is not unusual for the president to delegate his vice president to attend the UN general assembly. You may remember that during President Festus Mogae’s tenure, the Botswana delegation to the general assembly was in many cases led by the foreign Affairs Minister, Minister Phandu Skelemani. So, for president Khama at least he has delegated the vice president on several occasions when he was not able to attend.”