Rammidi feels opposition financial woes, Reatile has BDP taking care of his campaign

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday June 27, 2014 16:44

 

He has had to live with the fact that canvassing for support in the opposition is very expensive, especially in a sparse constituency like Kanye North.  The Botswana Congress Party candidate says to make meaningful impact, one needs roughly P300,000. To print and distribute T-shirts, a candidate has to part with at least P5,000, and for a launch, P50,000.

“Things are not easy like before when I was in the ruling party. In the BDP private companies voluntarily came up to help me financially. For the 2009 general elections I managed to raise P100,000 through private companies. These companies came to assist me but in opposition politics you are on your own,” said Rammidi.

His wish is for the private sector to be fair and liberal as companies in South Africa, who have been known to support opposition parties.

Rammidi says he has long advocated for party funding even when he was still in the BDP, adding that the ruling party 2006 congress in Serowe resolved that parties should be publicly funded.  The intention, he says, for political party funding, is to level the playing field, especially recognising that very few Batswana have money to finance their campaigns.

A former comrade who seems to be enjoying new life in the ruling party is the MP for Jwaneng-Mabutsane Mephato Reatile. He says campaigning in BDP colours is different from the times he was still a Botswana National Front (BNF) member.

“As I speak, I have a vehicle that is taken care of by the BDP which assists in the campaigns.

The party is responsible for fuelling the vehicle unlike in the BNF. The expenses are not that bad like in the opposition parties because the BDP takes care of everything,” Reatile said.

Reatile estimates that he will use P185,000 for the full campaign; P28,000 for the launch, P5,000 for campaign T-shirts among other things. But unlike his opposition colleagues, much of that is covered by the party, BDP friends and financiers.