Arone to capitalize on BCP exit
Mompati Tlhankane | Tuesday January 31, 2023 06:00
Arone, who has since joined the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), was introduced to UDC members at a rally here on Saturday. “Arone was an evangelist sent to spread the word but he ran away and was afraid of the mammoth task he was given.
He went to the wrong place but while he was there he realised that he needs to come to the right place,” UDC president Duma Boko told Maun residents. Arone won the constituency under the BCP in 2014 but later defected to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party just before the 2019 General Elections. He lost the area to the UDC’s Kenny Kapinga in 2019.
“If the BCP is not part of the UDC I am contesting but if it remains in the coalition I will not be contesting and will remain a team member,” Arone told this publication in an interview after the rally.
He said there is no way he can contest against the incumbent Okavango legislator Kapinga if the BCP chooses to stay in the UDC. “It will be self-defeating. My aim is not to stand for elections, we want regime change and opposition unity,” he said. Under the BPF colours, Arone clarified that he has joined the BPF on a condition that it continues working with the UDC.
He indicated that he had long decided to join the BPF but the audio that was leaked last year got ahead of his plans to make the big announcement. Last year an audio was leaked in which Arone was addressing a prophet in Moshupa via WhatsApp.
In the audio, Arone who was labeled as a traitor when he joined the BDP, emphasised that he was never bought nor received any money to motivate his defection to the ruling party. He said he left the BCP because it refused to be part of the UDC ahead of the 2014 General Elections. “I have never changed my position about why I left the BCP. The frustration is that we had agreed before 2014 that the BCP would be part of the UDC but my leadership pulled off. That is why I chose constituency-based politics. I joined the BDP to save my constituency,” Arone reiterated. He pointed out that if there are people who thought he betrayed the struggle when he joined the BDP then they are wrong.
The former Minister of Basic Education said if there are people who had betrayed the opposition it is the BCP leadership. “Initially I was not for any party but I just wanted change in the country. I was from the BNF before I joined the BCP. Opposition unity is the only thing that can bring about change”. Commenting on the reason he left the BDP, Arone said: “The BDP that I joined is not the current BDP. There are a number of issues where we differ with the current BDP leadership so I felt strongly that it is better I go back where I belong”. Arone also said he is already on the ground in the Okavango constituency to prepare in case the BCP leaves the UDC. “I am on the ground; I know what people are saying; I am ready,” he highlighted.
The BPF is the latest opposition party to join the opposition coalition and if the BCP leaves the UDC, Arone will face Kapinga who has since decided to retrace his steps back to the BCP. Kapinga was last year expelled by the BCP alongside four other MPs, among them Leader of Opposition Dithapelo Keorapetse. But Kapinga asked to be forgiven because word around the area was that he did not stand a chance to win the constituency outside the lime colours. Now the invigorated Arone is willing to take that chance.