The idea is not original having been first tabled as a motion by Joy Phumaphi in the Seventh Parliament (1994-1999) and adopted by consensus. The Minister of Presidential Affairs at the time, PHK, had promised the sceptical opposition at the end of the debate that legislation to implement the motion would be drafted.PHK was as good as his word . The bill was drafted, I still have a copy. Unfortunately, before the bill could be tabled in Parliament, PHK was transferred from the OP and His Honour Lieutenant General Khama replaced him. I have mentioned this before: At his first attendance of the All-Party Parliamentary Caucus meeting, he expressed reservations on the draft and indicated he wanted to reword it before tabling it in Parliament. The rest is history. Anybody who contradicts this must tell us his/her sworn version! Indeed during the debate of the motion a few voices were heard expressing reservations over declaration of spouses' interests and those of children under 18. DK possibly had also quibbled as he does now over the idea of the public declaration of 'his' assets and liabilities. Here he appears to be in sync with his factional opposite, VP Mompati Merafhe. Strange bedfellows if you ask me. When Minister Merafhe was Minister of Presidential Affairs piloting the Directorate of Corruption and Economic Crime Bill the two were sworn adversaries, DK alleging that the bill was a witch hunt device targeted at the Big Five rivals, the Big Two. DK was member of the latter and Merafe a member of the former.

The DCEC Bill subsequently became law. No witch hunting, we know of took place. The point here is that in Parliament it is the majority that decides whether a proposed bill becomes law, it is not an odd individual(s) who determines whether a bill passes as law or not. It seems the BDP veterans will never understand that they are in Parliament for their constituents not for themselves, otherwise, why are they so obsessed with their selfish interests in the House of Representatives? Laws are for public interest not MPs' benefit! We need an induction course after every general elections to orientate these dunderhead party hacks. They never learn!

Anyway, what do our dunderheads want to tell Batswana? Are they saying a private member's bill is against parliamentary rules? Or is their understanding of a private member, exclusive of opposition members?

Perhaps that is why their president who doubles up as the national president could tell the electorates that he would find it difficult to work with opposition MPs, so they (voters) must vote for BDP candidates! After 44 years in Government one would expect these clowns to understand the basic tenets of multi-party democracy, but no!
The BDP circus goes on, at breakneck speed with breathtaking stunts performed by none other than His Honour Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe. He is the same man who warned us they (BDP) would not hesitate to impose military rule in the country; the same one who when the public expressed shock at the extra-judicial killing of John Kalafatis airily opined, 'killing of one or two Batswana' would not make a dent on the Botswana international image; it is he who welcomed the advent of the Chinese construction companies' competition with Batswana entrepreneurs with the chilling unpatriotic words, 'ga re a bolo go jewa ntsoma ke Batswana' (we have long been exploited by Batswana)! Instead of imparting skills and empowering Batswana, he rejoiced that they were going under from Chinese competition.

Now that Honourable Dumelang Saleshando, MP for Gaborone Central, has decided to call the BDP bluff on the very first D (Democracy) of Khama's roadmap to expose undemocratic, arrogant, rampant and corrupt tendencies of the BDP, His Honour has completely lost his sense of proportion:

"We are not going to allow anyone to steal the limelight at our expense..."   "We will use our majority for our own benefit.." I will be brutally honest, everything will be done in our own terms. Where have you ever seen an objective politician?" "Our Minister will bring the Bill and we will scrutinise it at cabinet and at caucus level as a party before it is passed as law."

Wow! Imagine these circus clowns fearing the limelight being stolen from them! What limelight? They squandered the limelight Joy Phumaphi and PHK then, had graciously bestowed upon them. More than a decade after the promised 'rewording,' arrogant shelving of the bill, and the snide attempt to reduce the contemplated law to a 'code of conduct, ' the limelight has been stolen away, not by Honourable Saleshando but BDP playing ducks and drakes to undermine the democratic process to barter public interest for wanton corruption.

Of course they will use their majority for their own (BDP) benefit not for public benefit.  They always do. Is this how to retrieve the limelight? 'Brutally honest' indeed to demonstrate how dishonest they have always been. Reminds me of an anecdote about Fats Waller the jazz musician and a white lady who was informed niggers played jazz because they had rhythm: "Mr Waller what is rhythm?" asked the lady. "Ma'am, if you don't know it, it means you ain't got it!" answered Fats Waller! Merafhe a subjective politician, therefore dishonest, knows dishonesty because dishonesty is in his party's make-up!

He pitches his circus stunt standard to dizzy heights, by boasting the Cabinet and caucus will scrutinise bill before it is passed. If the past is anything to go by, then that's where the limelight will evaporate, because Cabinet and executive-dominated caucus will rhythmically kill or water down the bill. There, the BDP buffoonery will get stuck. They are running to stay on the same spot. To retrieve one per cent of the limelight, let them adopt Dumelang's draft holus-bolus and forsake their humourless stunts!