The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has launched a complaint with the
office of the Ombudsman accusing President Ian Khama and the ruling
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) of abusing the national television
station, Btv, writes Oliver Modise in Mmegi.
The accusation has come through a letter to the Ombudsman, Ofentse Lepodise. The letter is signed by BCP deputy secretary general, Motsei Rapelana. The BCP wants the department or the ministry of Communications Science and Technology to be investigated by Lepodise.
"We write with respect to a repeated pattern of abuse of office by the Department of Information and Broadcasting and the minister responsible for the department with respect to glaringly disproportionate coverage of political campaigns by various political parties in favour of the BDP," the party states.
It says that Btv's biased coverage of BDP events to the exclusion of all other parties amounts to abuse of office. "We consider this an abuse of office and or maladministration having regard to the fact that the Department of Information and Broadcasting is funded by the public through payment of taxes," the BCP says.
The party says it was prompted to launch a complaint after Khama and his friend Thapelo Olopeng were 'paraded' on national television at a BDP event organised to launch Education Minister and BDP secretary general, Jacob Nkate as a contestant for Ngami constituency.
"In the most bizarre form of abuse of a national television station, the President, the supposed custodian of national resources and values paraded his long time friend and party activist, a certain Olopeng," the letter says.
At the launch Olopeng and Khama called on party members to protect their President (Khama) from attacks by the private media. The video clip in which Olopeng appeared on Btv ran for more than the standard time, BCP says.
Click here to read the full report, posted on Mmegi's website.
