BCP hasn’t communicated exit–UDC
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday February 6, 2023 06:00
On Sunday in Maun BCP Secretary General (SG) Goretetse Kekgonegile revealed that the 2024 general election will be a three horse race between UDC, the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and a new coalition with Alliance for Progressives (AP) and Botswana Labour Party (BLP).
“Let’s prepare our minds for next year’s menu. It will be a three horse race come 2024,” Kekgonegile told a rally in Maun.
Contacted for an interview, UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa said no one will celebrate the departure of a member but they will respect BCP’s decision if they choose to formally pull out of UDC. “No affiliate member is bigger than the UDC.
This is a people's project. We carry the hopes of our people, including those in the BDP,” he said.
Asked whether they have planned for life without the BCP, he said the answer could be found in what transpired in Moselewapula bye- election. “If you remember, the BCP was to provide a candidate in Moselewapule and it declined but we managed to retain the ward,” Mohwasa emphasised.
The BCP had national conference of July 2022 resolved to give the UDC six months to address important governance issues but the period lapsed month and the BCP promised to make a resolution before end of last month. Before Sunday’s announcement the BCP had revealed they were leaving the UDC because the governance and constitutional grievances that led to the suspension of leaders like BCP president Dumelang Saleshando and Kekgonegile from the UDC had not been addressed.
The BCP leaders on Sunday made it clear that the UDC was just an election arrangement for the 2019 general elections no wonder there have made an alternate arrangement with AP and BLP for the 2024 general elections. In an interview with Mmegi this week, BCP spokesperson Dr Mpho Pheko said given the proximity of elections from 2022, the BCP and AP saw the need to proceed so that negotiations could be concluded and give way for other important processes like primary elections. Dr Pheko also said the members including all the coalition partners (BPP, BNF, BCP) know very well that the existing Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) were towards the 2019 elections. “The UDC is aware that new arrangements (for 2024 elections) are needed. You will recall that the current negotiations between AP and BCP are a result of attempts to kick start the negotiations for the 2024 elections which were supposed to be coordinated by Dr Margret Nasha (delegated by the UDC president). The BPP, BNF and BPF (for reasons only known to those parties) failed to submit proposals as agreed,” she said.
Pheko said no BCP member is in the dark about the party’s position on the UDC. She reiterated that the decision to give the UDC six months to attend to constitutional, leadership and governance related challenges was made by the BCP Conference in Mahalapye. “This Conference was attended by more than 1500 delegates from all over the country. The BCP delegates were sent by other members to make decisions similar to the one the conference made. Our constitution says that BCP conference is the highest decision-making body followed by the BCP central committee. This approach is understood by all the active members of the BCP meaning that most members of BCP understand the Party's decision-making processes,” she added. Pheko pointed out that given that consultation is a continuous process, there is an ongoing process of engagement with party structures to explain some of the developments regarding the UDC as people have witnessed the in-house consultative meetings in different constituencies.
"The CC of the BCP is meeting again this weekend to discuss among others the party's status within the UDC. It is advisable to wait for the outcome of that meeting before any further discussions of the UDC related issue". “No bye-elections will be necessitated by the exit of the BCP from the UDC. There is no law that provides for such a provision and given that we have no reason to insist that our MPs and councilors write to Parliament or their council chambers disassociating themselves from the party under whose colours they acquired their status, the need for by-elections does not arise,” Pheko told this publication in a previous interview.