26 May 2014

Office of the President (OP) has expressed disappointment over what it termed an attempt by the Sunday Standard newspaper to tarnish the name of President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

A media statement from OP states that the paper tried to besmirch the good name of the President through innuendo and misinformation by alleging in its front page story that President Khama was implicated in DIS corruption allegations.


“As the lead front page story in this week's (25/5/14) edition of the newspaper, there is an article entitled Khama implicated in DIS corruption allegations.

Yet when one looks carefully at the text of the same article one finds no substance to justify such a provocative headline,” says the release.
 It further says, “what is rather contained in the said article is the false statement that a so-called ‘Mr. Jerry’  was Khama's Mosu airstrip contractor. This is despite the fact, as the newspaper itself reported in the past, that the construction of the gravel airstrip has all along been the responsibility of the BDF and not any private contractor.”


The release states that it appears that the Sunday Standard was confusing the airstrip with private homes that have been built with personal (private) funds, which have had a certain Mr NM Jere as a contractor or sub-contractor.

Such projects, says the release, have nothing to do with public procurement, and it is in this context that, ‘we find the story to be of little substance’.

Unfortunately, states the release, the latest innuendo appears to be part of a continuous pattern on the part of the Sunday Standard newspaper to undermine the good name of the President through misinformation and on occasion outright falsehoods. ENDS