Voter trafficking: Why the fuss only post-2014
Michael Dingake | Tuesday February 2, 2016 15:53
Batswana have always been sold and fed the cheap and unappetising menu of ‘free and fair’ elections. Outside observers, foreign media and diplomatic missions have been in the forefront, leading the sale of the junk meal of ‘free-and-fair’ elections in Botswana. They sing the discordant tune of ‘Botswana, the shining example of democracy.’ Only recently a few observers sensitised by objective political analysts have added a hesitant ‘but.’ General elections in Botswana are free ‘but,’ not fair, is the new verdict.
The ‘but’ comes about after the realisation that the elections cannot be fair as long as one of the players is, player, referee and linesman! The scenario typifies the situation in Botswana general elections.
It is evident in the undeniable fact that while Domkrag, the ruling party, is a player in the same game with the opposition parties, on the other hand it enjoys a big advantage in the form of its status conferred by the incumbency factor and the abundance of ill-gotten resources through the business tender link with the business community.
The party exploits the incumbency factor to the hilt and arrogantly abuses public assets to fight its election battles. The state media - Btv, Radio Botswana and the Daily News – have been made the monopoly of Domkrag, the governing party, despite being funded by public taxes. The state media under BDP serves only Domkrag to access the electorates, and denies the opposition quality time and space, to enjoy the same benefits.
The demand to neutralise the state media by transforming these to serve the interests of the whole public sans discrimination, has fallen on deaf ears. Fair play is unknown to Domkrag; what Domkrag knows is winning by hook or by crook and not by the book. The demand for public party funding, a norm in any democratic country, not excluding uncle Bob’s Zimbabwe, is denied by political authorities. In the circumstances what right does Domkrag have to criticise uncle Bob and his accomplices in the crime of misrule, when it fails to honour the principle of ‘fair’ elections? What right has it to condemn Nkurunziza when he amends the limited term of office provided by the constitution, even at the risk of bloody violence to stay permanently in power? Cheating is cheating, no matter how it may be camouflaged or defined. Uncle Bob of Zimbabwe, Nkurunziza of Burundi, Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivory Coast, Ian Khama of Botswana are birds of a feather.
They may use dissimilar methods to stay in power until the Second Coming, their intentions are the same! They are all guilty as charged! Why is voter trafficking only acknowledged now when it has been the modus operandi of Domkrag all these years? Is it because it is beginning to sting the ruling party as well instead of the opposition alone? The October 2014 general elections which returned the BDP as a minority government, appears to have wounded the BDP pride, to the extent that it struggles to save face by accusing the opposition of voter trafficking! No, guys you are the arch voter traffickers.
Batswana know you actually outdid yourselves, by trafficking voters from two of your own stronghold constituencies to help one of the favourite party candidates to win. A miscalculation which some of the members regret. As voters begin to read your lips, as they appear to be doing, you guys in Domkrag will commit more blunders that will expose you more and make more people to lose confidence in your policies.
His Honour, the Vice President’s solution of terminating supplementary registration to kill voter trafficking is no solution at all. It will only feed voter apathy which will undermine the democratic process. You can’t have a government of the people for the people by the people when a declining number of people go to the polls! Of concern to all genuine Batswana democrats at the moment is how to tackle this heinous political crime that has come to dwell among us.
Three options come readily to mind. One, make voter trafficking a criminal offence and arm the IEC with the wherewithal to detect and penalise the criminals. Two, compensate the danger of voter apathy by streamlining continuous registration by maintaining those registered at the previous general elections in the books and only register the first-time voters, and those who for some reason or other had not registered in the previous general elections. Three, introduce online registration so that potential voters are spared the tedium of travelling time as well as the expenses that go along with travel to places where they prefer to vote.
Obviously the fuss about voter trafficking at this late hour from friends in the ruling party is motivated by the fear of the opposition paying them in their own coin – voter trafficking. Though Domkrag should be more expert at voter trafficking since they have been at it for a longer time, as they could always afford the cost of the exercise, they fear the pain and prospects of losing through voter trafficking, assuming the opposition has indeed learnt this piracy in electoral processes.
My advice to the voter traffickers and cheats in any form in Domkrag, is a brotherly one: Repent! Your time will be up in 2019. Do unto the opposition what you’d like the opposition to do to you post-2019. Introduce the reforms demanded by the opposition. They will stand you in good stead when your turn comes!