‘Grembo’ gives detractors middle finger
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) parliamentary aspirant for the Francistown West constituency Samuel ‘Grembo’ Kealotswe has refuted accusations that he has embezzled over P100 000 of funds meant for a disabled person’s business.
Kealotswe is being accused by a certain Thabo Yobe and his family of misusing money he received through a Youth Development Fund (YDF) to start a broiler project.
“It’s all made up, and we know the people behind this smear campaign,” said Kealotswe.
In a candid interview with The Voice on Wednesday afternoon Kealotswe said he’s being persecuted for caring too much.
“I was trying to help a vulnerable member of the society, and got more than I bargained for. I did everything for him, and even was willing to build him a house before the recent sponsored attacks,” fired Kealotswe.
The Managing Director of Grembo Securities told The Voice, that contrary to accusations that he has embezzled funds, he owes no one anything, and can account for all the funds disbursed by the Ministry of Youth.
“What people are not aware of is the mortality rate that we experienced at the poultry. At some point we lost 203 chickens from a batch of 500. This is a huge loss,” he said.
Kealotswe said they also lost many chickens to the heat wave, and at some point lost 109 from another batch of 500.
He said some of the deaths could not be explained as all the recommended vaccines did not work.
“We later realised that a black mamba living in the poultry house was behind this acute mortality rate,” Kealotswe told The Voice, revealing that the poultry workers did kill the trespassing serpent.
“We made a lot of mistakes, because we were all learning. Our handling and storage was not up to scratch and we incurred losses as as result. My focus now is to ensure the business is on its feet before I hand it back to MYSC,” he said.
Kealotswe said at the moment he’s in the process of handing over the project back to MYSC.
“The process has begun. I’ll leave the business with stock, so that whoever takes over can continue where I left off,” he said.
He said they recently slaughtered another batch, and chickens are on sale.
”I actually deposited P1000 into Yobe’s Orange Money account this week, this is despite the low sales and cost overruns the business is experiencing,” Kealotswe said.
“I feel sorry for Thabo, he allowed himself to be used by politicians. Not a single one of them has ever tried to help him. I tried the poultry business for him in 2021 but we were rejected, and in 2022 we were funded. How then do I turn around and embezzle funds?” asked Kealotswe.
Monarch Councilor Gopolang Almando who was also implicated in a report submitted to MYSC said the whole thing was blown out of proportion by some people with sinister motives.”
“As far as I know the poultry is still operating, and I’m not aware of any embezzled funds. There’s a group of people who’re not happy that Kealotswe will be standing in the BDP Primaries and they want him to be vetted,” said Almando.
He said Yobe finds himself in the cross fire, but will be dumped as soon as his new found friends have achieved their mission.
Kealotswe will square off with Raoboy Mpuang in the BDP Primary elections, for a chance to unseat Ignatius Moswaane.