Cape Town – Former Botswana president Ian Khama, 69, has asked the high court of Gaborone to set aside the arrest warrant that was issued against him last week.
Khama, who ruled Botswana from 2008 to 2018, is currently in a dispute against his political rival and successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, whom he has accused of authoritarianism.
According to TimesLIVE, the warrant was issued to Khama after he failed to turn up in court to answer charges that were laid against him in April last year.
ALSO READ | Botswana ex-leader Ian Khama accused of illegally possessing firearms
AFP reported at the time that court papers said Khama was accused alongside four others, including a former intelligence chief and a suspended police boss.
In the warrant released by the Botswana Magistrate Court, Khama was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property and procuring the registration of a firearm by false pretence.
Botswana has issued an arrest warrant for former President Ian Khama.
14 charges ranging from unlawful possession of a firearm to receiving stolen property have been leveled against him.
He has had a rift with Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi for years. pic.twitter.com/LByvzxo9Ls
— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) December 30, 2022
Illegal possession of guns carried a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail ikn that southern African country.
In response, Khama asked the governement to set aside the ruling, citing a lack of evidence against him.
“The warrant of arrest threatens my right to liberty in circumstances where I have committed no crime … should this warrant of arrest not be stayed or set aside … I would suffer irreparable harm which cannot be compensated for in any form,” he said in the filing.
Khama, who now resided in South Africa, said he feared for his life in Botswana, and was still waiting to be given a court date, according to his lawyer.
BBC reported that the arrest warrant could pave the way for Botswana to seek his extradition from South Africa, the report said.
Khama told Botswana’s Mmegi news site that the warrant of arrest “has nothing to do with anything illegal I have done because I never have. It is only about one thing. And that is to remove me from being a threat to masisi and his reelection”.
He said he was ready to welcome an extradition request
“Yes I would very much welcome an extradition application so I can expose in a foreign court the lies Masisi and Magosi have been fabricating as they did in the butterfly case,” bthe report quoted him as saying.
Former President Khama Ian Khama on the warrant of arrest. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/rvTGtB3DVs
— Sophie Mokoena (@Sophie_Mokoena) December 30, 2022
In the runup to the 2019 general elections, Khama dramatically resigned from the Botswana Democratic Party, the party his father Seretse Khama founded and which has held power since 1966.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
