�Moono� worries BDP
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday November 28, 2014 17:55
The BDP feel so threatened by the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) that a special meeting held over the weekend resolved to take the war to their opponent and engage on a youth recruitment drive.
“Many of our youthful members were attracted to the UDC by the party’s campaign strategy and their ‘Moono ke one oo!’ tag. We need a suitable competitor and have thus come up with our own tag which we believe will give the UDC a run for their money,” said Gaborone central political officer Kaisara Sejoe.
The new BDP youth wing tag is still being refined but Mmegi has learnt that it goes somewhat like ‘Thulaganyo’, which means to do things in order and progress. Kaisara is confident that young people will be attracted to the new tag line and will come back to the BDP. A source revealed further that the youth wing for Gaborone Central constituency came up with a six months programme to sell their new tag line.
“They want to revive youth structures in Gaborone constituencies, which they believe have collapsed. Remember, the youth elective congress is also around the corner and our youth structures should be in place,” the source said.
The source added that a pre-constituency meeting would be held on January 17 where all youth delegates are expected to take part.
Each of the constituencies that lost to opposition parties in Gaborone are engaged in an evaluation process to establish reasons behind their loss. Out of five constituencies in Gaborone, the BDP won only Gaborone South, mainly due to opposition division. Mmegi has learnt that the regional committees are preparing reports on what could have contributed to their loss.
Some of the problems that were identified as contributors to poor performance are lack of cooperation between members who lost in their primary elections and those who had won; some BDP members did not vote for their party; most civil servants voted for the opposition; and general anger towards the ruling party.
In their reports, both teams suggest that the BDP should go back to its core values that have kept it in power for close to 50 years.
One of the reports states that some elders who have been BDP members are losing faith in the party.
“Some of the elders who had long been known to be BDP members have defected to Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). The impact of BMD within BDP is something that cannot be ignored. The BMD is still recruiting even today and the party should guard against that,” reads one of the reports in part.
The report also states the need for the BDP to build a good relationship with labour unions.
The BDP has also set a task force in Tlokweng constituency to find out why they lost to the UDC. The BDP was voted by 46 percent of the population, winning 37 parliamentary seats, UDC 17 and Botswana Congress Party three.