Africa-Press – Botswana. President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi says not registering to vote on the first day of the general elections registration process should not be seen as a delayed move because he registered within the prescribed period.
“My wife and I took the decision to register on this day,” he told a press conference after registering to vote at Mosielele Primary School in Moshupa yesterday.
President Masisi said he spent the initial days of the registration process motivating and mobilising people to register as well as checking the progress of the registration process throughout the country.
Regarding his preparedness and confidence to win the coming general elections, President Masisi said his party was ready and that all he was waiting for was to be sworn in for the second term.
He said most Batswana were also eager to see him take his second term because of what his government had done, citing the fight against COVID-19 while the country earned zero income and guiding the economy to what it was today.
President Masisi also said through his leadership the country was able to enter into a much better deal with De Beers.
He added that his government also closed the borders for many vegetable imports and school uniforms thereby encouraging local production of such.
President Masisi said under his leadership government was able to upgrade subordinate districts into full districts to improve service delivery.
Dr Masisi said another positive development was the introduction of indigenous languages at public primary schools.
He added that even after multiple droughts and the COVID-19 pandemic that had hit the country, government was able to come up with an infrastructural budget of over P13 billion.
He said he would leave office at the end of his term with the country strong, powerful and with a sense of direction.
On allegations of meeting former president, Dr Lt Gen. Seretse Ian Khama during the festive season, President Masisi said there was no meeting and no reason for such a meeting, adding that they had agreed to disagree.
President Masisi also said a letter from Maun West Member of Parliament, Mr Dumelang Saleshando asking him to call an all party conference had been replied.
He said he could not respond to the letter prior to the legal battle that resulted in the halting of the voter registration process, adding that it would have been unethical to deliberate on an issue that was before a court of law.
President Masisi added that calling an all party conference was not his mandate but that of the Minister for State President.
He also noted that the law prescribed the mandate that established the structure as well as how and when its meeting would be convened.
Dr Masisi said other issues that were contained in the letter would be responded to at the right platform.
He, however, said the all party conference would not discuss issues that were not part of its mandate.
On accusations that the ruling party controlled state media, President Masisi said the public media was used to disseminate government policies and programmes as well as to get feedback from citizens.
He said opposition parties would do the same thing if given the opportunity to govern, adding that government was not restricting other parties’ access to the public media.
He said there were also allegations that the President and ministers were abusing government vehicles by using them to travel to political activities.
He wondered why it was deemed wrong for ministers and the President to use official vehicles while executing their mandate.
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