UDC will not form one party � Mohwasa
Ryder Gabathuse | Thursday October 30, 2014 16:56
“We went into the elections under the ambit of UDC with one presidential candidate and one symbol for the purpose of meeting certain electoral legal requirements and also as agreed by the three parties in the umbrella,” explained Mohwasa.
In the past, the Botswana National Front (BNF) contested the elections under the guise of loose alliances, which legally had challenges of identity.
BNF previously went into the elections in an alliance with the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) amongst others.
The UDC spokesperson said the model of cooperation that has brought together the BNF, BMD and BPP shows unity in diversity.
“Parties will continue as they are as nothing has been suggested that they will collapse into an umbrella,” he explained.
Mohwasa indicated that if any of the three parties brings something to the table in that respect it would be listened to and dealt with on its own merits. “The party leadership is not going to impose any decision on the people but it will listen to their suggestions and deal with them accordingly,” he stated.
Mohwasa further indicated that UDC is modelled along the line of the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) where the four public sector trade unions maintain their identities as individual entities but have a common body that brings them together at federation level.
Going forward, Mohwasa stated that the UDC is working on the need to strengthen itself because any existing organisation will always have its challenges. He was however, impressed that the people have embraced the notion of an umbrella as on its first elections they got 17 parliamentary and a good number of council seats.
Most importantly, he noted that the UDC came up with policies that widely appealed to the people. The calibre of party candidates and leadership also appealed to the electorate. He is of the view that people no longer need the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) as it has now run out of ideas since it came into power in 1966.
“People are fed up with the old ways of politicking. They want something that can bring hope,” he said and indicated that the BDP has been rendered irrelevant by its static policies that lack dynamism.
He also described the BDP as a party that is disjointed with a leadership whose quality is in doubt.