{"id":10782,"date":"2022-07-23T14:48:23","date_gmt":"2022-07-23T14:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims"},"modified":"2022-07-23T15:40:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T15:40:29","slug":"masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims","title":{"rendered":"Masisi Defends Against Corruption Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed concern over mounting allegations that his presidency is plagued by corruption, implicating both him and his family.<\/b><\/p>\n

The president took the opportunity at the BDP congress this past weekend to hit back at allegations that he, along with his family members are involved in corrupt practices with state funds. The president offered the first public rebuttal since the allegations emerged soon after his election to office. Masisi addressed several contentious issues including Banyana farms, Okavango land acquisition, business dealings with Choppies CEO, Ramachandran Ottapathu and the awarding of lucrative tenders to his sisters.<\/p>\n

Family Affair<\/b><\/p>\n

With regards to the controversial awarding of tenders to his sister Boitumelo Phadi Mmutle, Masisi offered little in terms of his defense, but criticized the media and the opposition for peddling a false narrative. \u201cThe opposition have been challenged to ward off parliamentary immunity and make those statements outside Parliament and they have not.\u201d The president\u2019s sister is currently embroiled in a multimillion pula Water Utilities tender dispute, in which it is alleged that her company was awarded the contract despite her lack of experience.<\/p>\n

Choppies deal<\/b><\/p>\n

On business dealings with Choppies, Masisi said he declared his interest to cabinet. \u201cThose shares were bought with my small start-up company. Everything I did was ethically above board and right, but of course perception is something else,\u201d he said. It was revealed shortly after ascending to the presidency that he held 10 percent shareholding in Ramachandran Ottapathu\u2019s company Arceet pty ltd. The President was accused of conflict of interest and has since parted ways with Ram.<\/p>\n

Okavango land deal<\/b><\/p>\n

On the government\u2019s controversial decision to acquire a 22-hectare plot that covers part of Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta, Masisi said everything was done procedurally further adding that this was not the first time such a development occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state is permitted by the law to acquire any land from any land board in the public interest, even during Rre (Festus) Mogae\u2019s tenure, this once happened at a time when the late Debswana Managing Director, Rre (Louis) Nchindo had wanted Debswana to venture into tourism activities. That land was spared for that purpose and became state land,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n

There were widespread concerns about the manner in which the land was acquired, with the Chobe Land board openly opposing the allocation, citing poor consultation from the government.<\/p>\n

-The president slammed opposition members for abusing the protection of parliamentary privilege.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed concern over mounting allegations that his presidency is plagued by corruption, implicating both him and his family. The president took the opportunity at the BDP congress this past weekend to hit back at allegations that he, along with his family members are involved in corrupt practices with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,10,12,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-10782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-parties","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nMasisi Defends Against Corruption Claims - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed concern over mounting allegations that his presidency is plagued by corrupt ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Masisi Defends Against Corruption Claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed concern over mounting allegations that his presidency is plagued by corrupt ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-23T14:48:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-23T15:40:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_1-62dc161a13f93.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Masisi Defends Against Corruption Claims\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-23T14:48:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-23T15:40:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_1-62dc161a13f93.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"parties\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/masisi-defends-against-corruption-claims\",\"name\":\"Masisi Defends Against Corruption Claims - 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