The 2019 Botswana general elections, early arrival!
Michael Dingake | Tuesday August 23, 2016 16:41
Since former commander of BDF swopped his military fatigues for the Dirty Game team jersey, he has played the dirty game with vigour and unusual skill. He has scored numerous goals including own goals in the process: Nonetheless, all said and done, party members are at a loss who to put in his place to fill gaping vacuum. Shall they ever have another, such versatile leader who can antagonise and befriend; discipline the undisciplined and reconcile the rehabilitated?
The answers to the questions must be, Never! He too must be convinced that he’s the Messiah. To prove this he has to do everything in his power to ensure that whatever lost image the party might have suffered through him or through others before him - for the decay in Domkrag isn’t new and can’t be attributed to one individual. Domkrag decline in popularity didn’t start under Khama’s watch. It started long before. In fact, he was dragged into politics precisely to slow down the threat of impending disaster portended by the 1994 general elections wake-up call, when the BNF netted 13 out of 34 Parliamentary seats. He came into the picture to slow down the decline already in progress.
Largely, the change of Domkrag’s guard in 1998 was a basic housekeeping chore. Had the change not happened, BDP would have long been buried, never to resurrect. Khama was crucial for the survival of his ancestor’s party. Having succeeded to keep BDP alive, albeit on an artificial respiration system, the Messiah and his disciples won’t be amused to see Domkrag’s light extinguished when the Messiah rides into the horizon. To ensure the inevitable doesn’t happen, he has to breathe inspiration into the ailing skeleton.
Khama started off by telling the party faithful, 2014 general election results, reflecting the party as 47% dismal minority government, wasn’t a genuine reflection of Domkrag. Why results weren’t BDP true reflection, President Khama didn’t say. Later he ventured to say, the opposition parties had trafficked voters to vote at wrong constituencies. In other words, the opposition cheated; they played dirty political game. May it be, the reason why MPs (BDP) egged by the Executive, aided and abetted by the Nicodemusian Speaker, debated the EVM Bill on a motion of urgency by dead of night, after party had flatly refused that the bill be debated after proper consultation? BDP’s negative attitude to the obviously fair demand arouses suspicion. Is BDP bent on some mischief,by introducing an electoral device probably loaded in its favour? Why deny Batswana, democracy and transparency when they most deserved it? I smell a rat. The stakes are high. In the circumstances intrigue lurks in background.
EVM sounds a big improvement on the old, tedious monotony of long voting queues. The way it was presented by the IEC - man from Namibia, it sounded like the elixir the good doctor ordered. Why is Domkrag running scared? The public, namely the electorate and their MPs, only wish to be assured they aren’t buying a pig in a poke. Don’t they deserve this bit of transparency? Many, including myself, have long agitated for EVM, hoping it can save time, encourage impatient youth, and busy potential voters to scorn apathy and vote for their representatives.
Another indicator that we’re at the finishing line of the 2019 national Olympics race, is the assignment some BDP MPs have, on constituencies won by the opposition in 2014. BDP is leaving no stone unturned To win the next general elections Domkrag’s preparations for victory have taken off like the Jamaican Usain Bolt at the 100m Olympics sprint race. Domie is doing more. It is streamlining its structures and seeing they work like a well-oiled machine.
The opposition isn’t far behind. Though cooperation talks proceed in starts and fits, focus remains on 2019 foregone victory; the spectral hoodoo experienced in the past is destined to be exorcised through amalgamation. So we hear. Cooperation is the magic wand! To the electorates long duped by false manifestoes, they beg to know: Whether a win from either party will bring popular change. In previous general elections BDP promised voters heavenly things: Creation of employment being priority. 2014 BDP platform had Lobatse Leather park among others. Two years on, where is the leather park and jobs it would bring? Instead of the Leather Park and jobs we have the image of the sjamboks, handcuffs and prison cells! How can Batswana trust these clownish pseudo-politicians?
The opposition? Assuming it wins the 2019 tourney as it predicts, will they, can they deliver? Problem with expected united opposition 2019-win, is the alarming complacency to win without ideology nor practicable programme: ‘‘BDP policies are fine, problem is implementation….” Huh! Does amalgamated opposition sincerely believe BDP policies are good and only need implementation? Teaching granny to suck eggs, are they?
Bickering, defections, dysfunctional structures , while the parties play hide and seek with ‘joining-each-other’ strategies is the hot-line. Perhaps they can learn something from the underperformance of the ANC in SA. Not so much President Jacob Zuma, not so much corruption, but non-delivery of services and collapsed structures is what ANC’s decline is made of, together with cannibalistic factions that make the ANC what it has never been! The electorates expect service delivery, not idle talk or replacement of Domkrag with implementers of dead BDP policies! Are parties honest and sincere with Batswana?