06 Mar 2022

 Former president, Lt Gen Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama will not be reimbursed for his 2019 personal trip to visit Dalai Lama in India, which the state had refused to sponsor.
This follows a Court of Appeal (CoA) decision, handed down on Friday by Justice Singh Walia, who had presided over the matter alongside CoA judge president, Justice Tebogo Tau and Justice Bashi Moesi.

The state had approached CoA seeking to overturn a High Court decision which had ruled in favour of Lt Gen Khama, in a case he was challenging his refusal to air transport by the state.
The High Court had ruled that government was liable to reimburse Lt Gen Khama all costs he incurred in making use of private chartered aircrafts as a result of the state refusal.
However, CoA overturned the decision and ordered that the appeal succeed with costs.

CoA said High Court was clearly in error in making adverse orders in respect of the travel to India, not only on account of denuding the President discretion in the matter, but also on account of turning a blind eye on national interest.

 “The court a quo was in error describing the circumstance surrounding the proposed visit to India as a simple conflict between policy and law”.
The CoA said it was a conflict between interest of an individual and the national interest, adding that national interest prevailed.

The court stated that if the respondent, Dr Khama was unaware of One China policy, he was undoubtedly made aware by the state in the response to his request in respect of the travel to India. As former president, the court said he was the face of the country.

“Not only an irresponsible and incautious president of Botswana would actively support or sponsor a former head of state visiting an entity for purpose of officiating at its celebrations of a national uprising against a state recognised by Botswana,” the court said.

It said while a policy was not having the force of law and not binding on an individual, national interest demanded that such an individual may not enjoy the support of his country executive in an enterprise inimical to its polices.

Further, it said nothing stopped Dr Khama as an individual to travel to India, but said it would have been inimical to its own policies for the government to play any form of active role in facilitating the trip.
The court expressed that the lower court paid no heed to the government’s arguments of the national interest.

“The proposed visit was no ordinary visit, it was a visit to officiate at the national uprising day of an entity that Botswana does not recognise under the one China policy,” court said. ENDS