Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
23 June 2009
Recently there has been a debate over President Ian Khama's retraction of his threat to take the Sunday Standard newspaper to court. In the build up to that incident, newspaper editors were engaged in re-establishing a working relationship with the Office of the President.
[ See Article ]
Khama was afraid that if he filed suit against the Sunday Standard that he then would not be able to invoke immunity as President of the Republic regarding the unconstitutional way in which he was granted the Presidency. But Mmegi and other newspapers seem to be focused on the wrong issues here again. The issue isn't who submits a case or not and why, but the real issue is whether the sitting President can actually sit there under the consitution. Mmegi, Sunday Standard and others should being ding expose's on this issue. This is a fundamental constitutional issue that has direct effect on how Batswana are governed. But no one seems to be exploring this in any meaningflul way. This isn't about one person, it is about a flaw in the constitutional system.
It really sad that a top level newspaper like Mmegi doesn't know the difference between the word "advise" and "advice". The headline should read "Khama should advise Jacqueline to Stop"
One gives advice, but they advise others. If this was the first time I saw this in Mmegi I would think it was a typo, but they have done it so many times in the past that I think its because they don't know the difference.