BCP must stop burying its head in the sand

Mmegi Editor | Wednesday October 29, 2014 17:20

Yesterday, someone insulted the intelligence of the great people of this nation. When addressing a press conference after his party was humiliated at the general elections, BCP leader, Dumelang Saleshando was not in the least remorseful for the crime that his party has committed against 260,000 Batswana.

There is no doubt that in voting out the BCP in all but three constituencies, Batswana wanted the BCP to learn, to realise that it was not greater than the will of the people.

Batswana punished the BCP for its refusal to work together with other opposition parties, not so much to remove the BDP from government, but to build a strong opposition that would effectively keep the BDP government in check. Batswana are tired of growing corruption in the public service. They want assurance that their civil liberties are protected and that they can freely walk and express their opinion in their country.

They want assurance that perpetrators of such evils as murder are prosecuted to the fullest extent and serve their sentences. Batswana want to be assured that whatever the government does is in their best interest. Many times before the elections and at various fora, they made known their disillusionment with the BDP-led government.

To many of our people, the government had become too obstinate, and the country was sliding towards totalitarianism. The best, many of them figured, was to bring the opposition together, stop vote splitting and save the nation from sliding further into the bog of uncertainty.

And so, there was joy when the announcement was made that all the opposition parties would work together after the 2009 polls. History had been a cruel teacher; for in practically every election since 1994, the opposition had lost because of split votes. Finally, Botswana would not be confused about which party they would vote for. But then, the BCP pulled out of unity talks.

Forget their reasons for doing so, as the election result make it clear that Batswana did not give a care what those reasons were. But they were angry. And they showed their anger by not voting for the BCP.

Certainly the BCP should have understood the people’s simple message: “We want unity! We want unity! We want unity!”. Sadly, the party leadership claimed on Monday that it heard nor saw nothing of the sort.

The BCP, according to Saleshando will still need to go around the country to find out why it lost. The party also does not believe opposition unity is a priority. That is a most unfortunate thing to say, for it may just spell the death knell for the party. Unless of course it exhumes its head from the sand.

                                                                         Today’s thought

                                                         “Where there is unity there is always victory.”

 

                                                                         - Publilius Syrus