Former President, Ian Khama has called President Mokgweetsi Masisi a liar for saying that he was instructed to make Tshekedi Khama his Vice President.
Khama says if he had wanted Tshekedi to be Vice President, he would have made him his Vice President himself.
“Having been President, I knew very well that it is the prerogative of the President to nominate his Vice,” Khama said, adding that had Tshekedi been given the impression he would be Vice he would not have agreed to serve in a lower position as Minister, which he did in Masisi's cabinet.
Khama said that the campaign trail of the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) has been so hot for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) that they lack the emotional intelligence to admit it.
Speaking to village elders in Serowe over the weekend, President Masisi said since he ascended to the Presidency, his relationship with the Former President of Botswana slowly deteriorated. He said that in efforts to salvage the relationship he talked to certain party elders such as David Magang to reconcile them but it did not help. Masisi said that he had once talked to Khama himself but he did not get any positive response.
He said some of the reasons advanced was that staff was being pulled back from the former President’s office and residence, however the truth is that the former President was in the wrong. As time went on Masisi said it became evident that the core issue that hurt Khama might have been when he did not take heed of the former president's request to make Tshekedi Khama his Vice President. Masisi said at the time Khama was moving to choose him as Vice President and essentially his successor, he (Khama) would frequently throw in the issue, which he avoided responding to in clear terms at the time.
Masisi said that at the time his response to Khama was that only a President can decide who can become his Vice President and that no one has power to decide on that. Masisi told the elders that he has no intentions of putting Khama behind bars as many insinuate, neither does he have intentions of killing him, as he is clueless on how to kill a person. Khama has over the years, including this past Saturday, said Masisi's government wanted to kill him through poisonig.
Khama says if he had wanted Tshekedi to be Vice President, he would have made him his Vice President himself.
“Having been President, I knew very well that it is the prerogative of the President to nominate his Vice,” Khama said, adding that had Tshekedi been given the impression he would be Vice he would not have agreed to serve in a lower position as Minister, which he did in Masisi's cabinet.
Khama said that the campaign trail of the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) has been so hot for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) that they lack the emotional intelligence to admit it.
Speaking to village elders in Serowe over the weekend, President Masisi said since he ascended to the Presidency, his relationship with the Former President of Botswana slowly deteriorated. He said that in efforts to salvage the relationship he talked to certain party elders such as David Magang to reconcile them but it did not help. Masisi said that he had once talked to Khama himself but he did not get any positive response.
He said some of the reasons advanced was that staff was being pulled back from the former President’s office and residence, however the truth is that the former President was in the wrong. As time went on Masisi said it became evident that the core issue that hurt Khama might have been when he did not take heed of the former president's request to make Tshekedi Khama his Vice President. Masisi said at the time Khama was moving to choose him as Vice President and essentially his successor, he (Khama) would frequently throw in the issue, which he avoided responding to in clear terms at the time.
Masisi said that at the time his response to Khama was that only a President can decide who can become his Vice President and that no one has power to decide on that. Masisi told the elders that he has no intentions of putting Khama behind bars as many insinuate, neither does he have intentions of killing him, as he is clueless on how to kill a person. Khama has over the years, including this past Saturday, said Masisi's government wanted to kill him through poisonig.
