Ramogapi denies ‘foisting’ allegations
Ryder Gabathuse | Monday May 29, 2023 06:00
The Mmaphula East by-election will be the 18th as the country has already held 17 by-elections with the majority won by the opposition led by the UDC with the ruling party winning only four of them.
Reports reaching Mmegi, however, suggest that the incumbent legislator for Palapye constituency, Onneetse Ramogapi, is alleged to have ‘imposed’ a candidate for the by-election claiming instead that he was a consensus candidate. Those who are opposed to the candidate whose name was submitted to the UDC national executive committee (NEC) recently say that Mompoloki Mohutsiwa was ‘imposed’ on the people as they claim they only saw him declared a candidate by Ramogapi on Facebook.
A source close to the development was worried that the manner in which the candidate was introduced to the people might result in some ‘resisting’ him and thus denying the UDC potential victory. Ramogapi was previously a Botswana Congress Party (BCP) operative before he chose to remain at the UDC after his former party axed him and others. The legislator reportedly left the BCP with some of his loyal supporters and on the ground in Palapye joined members of the Botswana National Front (BNF) of the UDC to work within the impending by-election and beyond.
The main contention is that Mohutsiwa’s candidature was not subjected to a proper test with accusations that a ‘short cut’ was taken to enable him to appear as if there was no challenge within the ward. The UDC NEC was allegedly given wrong impression that Mohutsiwa did not have opposition as a council candidate. Defending Mohutsiwa’s candidature, Ramogapi dismissed allegations that the UDC ward candidate was imposed on the villagers. “There is nothing like that. I only know of one person who is not amused by the developments in Palapye just because he was interested to contest and was not given a chance to do so as he is not even qualified to contest,” said Ramogapi.
The MP explained that the one who accused him of imposing the candidate on the people, “was informed by some people that he can’t contest on the basis that he doesn’t even come from the ward where there is a by-election.” Last Sunday, the UDC held an in-house meeting at the Royal School where the BNF and the BCP activists in Palapye were addressed by the UDC executive leader Professor Phillip Bulawa, whom they say was impressed by the process of selecting the candidate for the by-election.
“No one stood against the choice of the candidate. But, I understand the noise that was there especially within the BNF group was duly dealt with immediately,” claimed Ramogapi who added that there was no problem with the candidate as far as he was concerned. He emphasised that it wasn’t necessary to hold primaries in Palapye because no one came forth to declare interest to contest against ‘our choice’ of a candidate. Speaking about Mohutsiwa, Ramogapi indicated that he has been working tirelessly in the ward preparing for 2024 General Election and he is comfortable with him standing.
He indicated that when the chairperson of the constituency, Motswagole Ketlhapetswe wrote a letter endorsing Mohutsiwa as a candidate, it was done after fulfilling the requisite process and without favouritism. “I didn’t come up with the candidate as some people purport, he is a consensus candidate,” stressed Ramogapi.
The UDC regional chairperson, Badiredi Lekgathanye conceded to have heard allegations about people opposed to the by-election candidate but said unfortunately no one has stepped forward to lodge a formal complaint.
The regional chairperson explained that the issue has not even divided the party in Palapye as it has been handled with ease. “We may have had differing voices but as a party we reached a consensus in the end endorsing Mohutsiwa as our by-election candidate at the Mmaphula-East ward,” explained Lekgathanye adding that the candidate has been working hard for the 2024 General Election. She said at the region, they do not even have any complaint about Mohutsiwa’s candidacy that they can prove.