Botswana: Country Denies Military Rule Claim
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The Nation (Nairobi)
5 September 2008
Posted to the web 6 September 2008
Wene Owino
Gaberone
The Botswana government has denied that the new administration of President Ian Khama is willing to introduce military rule to enforce discipline and arrest moral decay in the country.
A statement from the Office of the President said that reports in the Friday edition of the weekly Echo newspaper that President Khama might resort to military methods are false and mischievous.
The paper quoted Vice-President Mompati Merafhe saying that President Khama is concerned about moral decay in Botswana and is willing to enforce military style discipline to rectify the situation. It reported Mr Merafhe saying that 'we will rule the country militarily if need be'.
According to Echo, the VP said: "The president tells me that when people don't listen we should borrow codes from the force that will help in addressing social ills that are a problem in our society".
But a statement from Office of the President said that Merafhe never said or implied such a thing. The statement demanded a correction and apology to Merafhe, which should be given the same prominence by the newspaper.
Commanders
Both Khama and Merafhe are former commanders of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF). Merafhe was the founding commander of BDF with Khama as his deputy. When Merafhe retired and joined politics, Khama took over as BDF boss.
News about Merafhe saying that Khama can enforce military rule has come against the background of complaints that the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and the civil service is being militarised.
There have been worries that too many former soldiers are becoming MPs and getting cabinet posts while others are being given key positions in the civil service.
So far, there are four former soldiers in the 15-strong cabinet and five ex-military men (excluding Khama) among the BDP's 45 elected MPs.
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Two of the things(probably the most important) I am very heavy on for building a society,discipline and morals,Ian Khama has the right idea,if not the softest way of carrying it out,do you not want to be diciplined?I look forward to it the ANCYL in SA needs it now!Do you not want to be moral? Your justice dept. would be very small if this comes to pass Start with the parents of children,move to the education department,then the police dept and then the justice dept sounds great for honest citizens and bad for dishonest citizens which is how it shoud be.