Nkawana, councillors at loggerheads?
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday November 20, 2020 18:14
The members accuse Nkawana of only being concerned about issues regarding the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). The MP is a member of the BCP.
Currently UDC structures are said to have collapsed in the constituency and UDC meetings are not being held. The BCP is one of the affiliates of UDC.
This according sources, has strained the relationship between area MP Nkawana, two of his councillors and some members of the UDC in the area. Selebi-Phikwe East has seven councillors of which two are from BCP, one for Alliance for Progressives (AP) and four from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). “It must be understood at first that the responsibility of party structures to know if they exist or not lies with the region not me as an MP. I do not have powers to block members from building structures. I am a loyal member of the BCP within the UDC,” Nkawana said.
He added that he cannot rush to check if UDC structures exist before he could check the ones for his party. “I know where this issue is coming from and those who are fueling it. One thing I know is that these structures were there during the elections but now I do not know if they exist or not. The region is supposed to ensure that the structures do exist.”
Nkawana explained that it must be understood that his relationship with councillors in his area is a professional one and he tells them if he has meetings or wants to visit their areas. “They have not told me if they have a problem with the way I do things in my constituency,” Nkawana said in an interview on Wednesday.
He also said he would ask the existing structures to give him a full report to what is happening in the area so that if there are issues, he could address them. He conceded that there could be a problem with some who want things to be done their way or those who have their own agenda against him.
“I will have a meeting with relevant structures so that all the issues are ironed out if there are any,” he said. However the concerned members accuse Nkawana of working well with some BDP councillors in the area, something that he refuted.
Nkawana said as the area MP he is forced to work with everyone equally regardless of party affiliation for the development of Selebi-Phikwe East constituency.
“As the MP for Selebi-Phikwe East there are things that I had promised residents of that area and my role is to make sure that I fulfill some of my promises. As far as I am concerned, I am working well with my constituents and I am engaging them time to time.”