BPF bars Kehitile from Nata-Gweta primaries
Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday March 5, 2024 13:05
Kehitile, who is currently a councillor in Dukwi, defected from the ruling Botswana Democratic Party to the BPF after the 2019 General Election.
On Saturday, the BPF held an emergency meeting addressed by deputy secretary general Neo Oagile, focusing on the protection of the incumbency of councillors in the Nata-Gweta constituency. The meeting revealed that there will be no parliamentary primaries in the constituency, indicating that party secretary-general Lawrence, Ookeditse, will represent the party in the next general election.
The decision has caused outrage amongst Kehitile's supporters, who had applied to participate in the parliamentary primaries. Even in Kehitile's absence from the meeting, dissent persisted, with his backers expressing concerns about the fairness of the electoral process and democratic principles within the BPF.
Some argued that Kehitile had previously signed a letter directed to the BPF National Executive Committee (NEC), along with other councillors, demanding protection for incumbency at the council level in the next general election. In the letter, councillors supposedly expressed their willingness to forgo challenging parliamentary primaries in favour of safeguarding their positions at the council.
The councillors allegedly reinforced their letter with voice notes in an official party WhatsApp group, including Kehitile. Despite Kehitile's clarification that his involvement was merely to show solidarity with other councillors, allegations of favouritism towards Ookeditse have persisted. According to sources, Kehitile's attempts to clarify his stance have been completely disregarded by the NEC.
“Unfortunately, the voice note and his role in the letter have been deviously used to infer that he did not want to contest the parliamentary primaries to favour Ookeditse, who is the preferred candidate for the NEC. Kehitile wrote a letter to the party clarifying his stance (that he was only acting in solidarity with other councillors), but the NEC has ignored him,” an insider said.
Yesterday, Oagile denied any element of favouritism towards Ookeditse by the NEC. "Yes, it is true. A decision has been made. BPF councillors wrote a letter requesting that the NEC protect their incumbency at councils, and they'll stick to council positions. The NEC agreed. Yesterday we were informing our members across the country of this decision. And it is not about Kehitile. It is about the party as a whole. Honourable Thaga and Honourable Omphile at Serowe West have also been given the same green light to contest at the council unopposed as per their request as councillors.
Honourable Frenzel depending on what happens with the UDC [Umbrella for Democratice Change] allocation may also be getting the same provision," Oagile said. He added that the BPF wanted to hold the parliamentary primaries in Nata-Gweta. “Had it not been a letter from the councillor, we could have gone for the primaries.
The NEC accepted the proposal from the councillors because the move would mean fewer primary elections and costs,” he said. Kehitile declined to be interviewed. He referred all inquiries by The Monitor to the BPF leadership. It's still unclear if the party will reverse its decision, but at the time of going to press, Kehitile’s supporters were reportedly planning to write to the NEC to reverse its decision.