Battle for lion’s share of political party funding
Spira Tlhankane | Friday March 1, 2024 14:35
After 'uniting' against rigging, opposition political parties enter today’s meeting with one voice as they aim to get a better share from the funds.
The P34.6 million according to Fnance Minister Peggy Serame will “enhance the country’s democratic principles”.
The concern from the opposition block was that the lion’s share of the money will go to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).
Briefing the media earlier this week opposition political parties indicated that they had assigned people to come up with a position paper. Speaking on behalf of opposition parties, secretary-general (SG) of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) Goretetse Kekgonegile said as opposition parties they will present the paper going forward.
“We are going there and we are going to listen to them, we are going to have our input on how we believe political party funding in Botswana should be established,” he highlighted.
In an interview with Mmegi this week, Botswana National Front (BNF) SG Ketlhalefile Motshegwa said as a party they had a meeting with other parties during the all opposition parties forum where they met to fight the intended elections rigging. “It was during the meeting where this issue of political party funding arose.
At the moment, the BNF takes the same position as other opposition parties. We made a decision to attend and our approach to the meeting is to listen because we do not know the contents yet. After listening and presenting we will go back and reflect on this issue. After reflection we will consult the broader leadership and some experts who will advise on how this thing is done in mature democracies,” Motshegwa disclosed.
For her part, BCP spokesperson Mpho Pheko said the BCP expects nothing less than comprehensive legislation to provide guidance on implementation of this very important milestone in our democracy. She said such a matter cannot be left to the dictates of a Minister or Cabinet to decide as and when they deem necessary.
“It would open the provision to abuse by those given the mandate to govern at any given time. The BCP expects that a Bill will be gazetted, having been subjected to comprehensive scrutiny.
A model of political funding is likely to cause brouhaha as the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) which won the 2019 polls has a controlling stake in the whole affair as its Minister of State President Kabo Morwaeng is going to lead the All Party Conference discussions as he is the one whose brief covers the issues.
Already, the BDP caucus has taken a position on the funding model they prefer. In the 2019 polls the BDP won 38 seats, the UDC garnered 15 seats, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) three seats and the Alliance for Progressives (AP) got one seat. With Botswana still stuck to the First Past The Post or winner takes it all type of elections, the winner of the elections will always go home with the largest share of spoils.
Pundits have recently observed worriedly that the BDP government is likely to use the results of the 2019 General Election which were contested by the BDP, UDC, AP and the BPF as the main deciding factor of how much the parties will benefit from the political funding for the first time since independence in 1966. When this decision is made, it might disadvantage the BCP which has since bolted out of the UDC to stand on its own and a newly formed Botswana Republican Party (BRP) which is an offshoot of the BPF as they were not on the 2019 ballot paper.
Using the 2019 ballot paper might see the UDC and the BCP squaring up for the share of the funding as besides the latest development of opposition 'unity', the UDC and BCP leadership in particuilar have not been in talking terms for the longest time since the advent of the BCP declared that it was pulling out of the coalition of opposition parties. Insiders have also indicated that the BDP causuc has already made its recommendations which will be articulated by Minister Morwaeng today. There will definitely be no love lost at the important meeting which the opposition parties have been worried that the Minister was reluctant to convene deliberately.
Quizzed about the BDP preferred model of funding, the party spokesperson Kagelelo Kentse preferred to remain mum for now, "We will wait for guidance. There are many options," Kentse preferred to say.