On Thursday, a Botswana arrest warrant was issued for former president Ian Khama due to his possession of illicit firearms (Dec. 29).
The judge gave the go-ahead for Mr. Khama’s immediate detention.
The ex-president is rumoured to be in South Africa, where he enforced exile on himself in November 2021. After serving two terms of five years, Mr. Khama resigned in 2018.
Khama’s inability to show up in court earlier this year led to the issuance of the arrest warrant. He was accused of handling stolen property and money laundering among the 14 charges against him.
Only the possession of five illicit guns is the subject of the obtained search warrant.
The maximum sentence for unlawful gun ownership in Botswana is 10 years in prison.
The son of Botswana’s first president, Ian Khama, previously told the local media outlet Mmegi that he would welcome an extradition request since it would allow him to speak out what he called the current president Mokgweetsi Masisi’s “lies and fabrications.”
A year prior to the 2019 general elections, Khama had handed over control to Masisi in accordance with the Botswana Peoples Party, BDP, tradition.
He, however, had disagreements with Masisi on specific policy stances months after resigning, and in the end supported opposition candidates in the general elections.
