Masisi explains Dikoloti, Serame saga
Ryder Gabathuse | Tuesday October 8, 2024 09:49
Four political parties successfully registered their presidential nominees, which is an important step pre the 2024 General Election which is billed for October 30. Masisi was nominated as the BDP presidential candidate for the second term, while Duma Boko was nominated by the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), and Dumelang Saleshando was nominated as the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) presidential candidate. The Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) on the other hand nominated Mephato Reatile as its presidential candidate.
Just before he signed the nomination papers in an event that was presided over by Chief Justice Terence Rannowane, Mmegionline caught up with President Masisi for an interview in which he explained decisions taken by the party leadership. Before he elucidated on the steps the party took to settle for Serame as the party candidate instead of Dikoloti who had won the primaries with a convincing margin of 1, 700 votes, Masisi’s attention was on the opposition, which had earlier sent a warning to him that they would give the BDP a run for its money in the coming polls.
“They know very well that their claims to oust the BDP in the impending polls are but wishful thinking and would never be realised,” Masisi countered in the presence of his challengers and emphasised: “They know and they can hear Batswana also talking about the BDP’s strength. Foreign nations are also talking just as the media has been reporting that the weak opposition is far from removing us from government.”
A colleague would then ask a question that seemingly irked the President when he demanded him to reveal how his government was readying itself in the event of a hung Parliament. That is, what happens in the event the BDP does not get the requisite number of seats that can give them an outright government (31 seats or more in a 61-seat Parliament).
Kitted on the party colours of red, black and white, Masisi was diametrically dismissive of a possibility of a hung Parliament as the opposition and political analysts generally feel the BDP is not at its best political stamina going into the 2024 polls. Batswana point to the party’s rough preparations for the 2024 General Election, which has been slow and gripped by protests, which have not been entertained, save for Goodhope-Mmathethe where Serame has singularly been gifted the party ticket on a silver platter.
The enthusiastic President dismissed the hung Parliament question: “There is no such an event, as the whole thing is just imaginations of people as my party is destined to get a landslide victory.” Quizzed to estimate the number of seats his party would possibly win, Masisi could not say, indicating, “Victory is certain for us.” Now back to the seemingly divisive Goodhope-Mmathethe issue, Masisi distanced his party from any possible blame. He insisted that the dispute was properly handled, owning up that post primaries there are always issues raised by those who claim to be aggrieved.
“That’s the nature of elections,” he paused and quickly highlighted that after all, it is in the best interest of the party itself to see how it overcomes all those challenges. He said the party does its preparations mostly considering the day of the national polls.
“We have done what we have done intentionally. The just-ended primaries just like those in the past do have their own issues. And those who are complaining, their complaints were duly entertained. You will appreciate that even this time around, we have followed all the complaints to the letter of the party constitution,” he highlighted. This is despite that recently a good number of members left the BDP amid concerns that the party leadership failed to entertain their protests of the primaries whilst others were simply vetted out without a word, which is uncharacteristic of the BDP. Turning to the Goodhope-Mmathethe saga that has forced Dikoloti, a seemingly loyal politician at the BDP who was even trusted with an important portfolio of the Ministry of Health, until he was fired recently, Masisi was still dismissive of the Dikoloti concerns. Dikoloti has finally registered with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) as an independent candidate as Wena Beula immediately after the party did not give him a further chance.
“There is nothing wrong that the party has really done that could have offended anyone in Goodhope-Mmathethe including Dikoloti. We, however, take it that what we are seeing is the manifestation of people who are worried and the party will deal with it,” he promised. He finds it okay for people to register their displeasure against the party’s electoral processes. He accedes that it is possible that during that spur of the moment (during primaries), the system could have caused people to say whatever they could say, out of frustration. “But, I want to tell you that whatever is at stake in the whole Goodhope-Mmathethe constituency will be duly settled amicably as everything is under control at the moment,” he explained. At the BDP central committee, Masisi explained that whatever they do or did was geared at maintaining peace within the party structures. Even in the case of the Goodhope-Mmathethe constituency, they have the desire to maintain peace and stability within their structures.
According to the President, the BDP constitution is different from that of the national Constitution as the one for BDP does not give the party president powers to unilaterally make decisions, “no!no!no!” “We vote where necessary and we follow the collective voice of the majority in our decision-making processes,” he explained, albeit there is a swirling opinion that President Masisi favoured Serame because she is in his ‘bigger plan’ of his government. The President has, however, denied favouring Serame or influencing opinion in her favour in previous events.
He also indicated that the party also got proper advice from its sub-committees including the electoral board amongst others in its decision-making. In the case of Serame-Dikoloti saga, the party listened to wise counsel from its attorney who took time to advise the BDP leadership on how to handle the matter, “fairly.” Masisi indicated that reasons were given and as party leadership, “we were able to look at various reasons that helped us to come to a conclusion about the Dikoloti issue and others.” Then, the President and his central committee were able to look at past matters relating to the Dikoloti-Serame issue: “There was a lot in the past that had happened relating to this matter. As a party, we were able to chide the offending parties, we protected people and we nurtured some of them hoping they will change but alas, they never did until we came to a conclusion of this issue as the party leadership, hard as it is.”
He said the decision taken against Dikoloti was the culmination of a process that had long started and unfortunately, could not yield the desired results. The party had to suspend Dikoloti from its membership and Masisi also fired him from his Cabinet to end the stand-off with the former. “Ke gone tshwetso ra bo re e tsaya (That’s how we arrived at our decision)... we are done with our decision and there is no turning back. Serame is the party parliamentary candidate for Goodhope-Mmathethe and after October 30, she will be our MP,” he insisted choosing to count the chickens before they are hatched.