New party faces daunting task

| Friday April 23, 2010 00:00

How big a political quake the new party will cause remains to be seen. But the early signs are there though. There was the initial tremour occasioned by the Mogoditshane indaba. Then a hushed silence as the 'birds' took off. 

Others flapped, as yet unsure about taking flight.  It was an eerie silence as the nation fidgeted, eager to know if there will, indeed, be a new party. Here and there, there were those who doubted if, indeed, the faction would become a party. We now know without doubt there is a new party in the making. We know because the party says it has submitted names to the Registrar of Societies. Soon, we believe, Batswana will get a name for the new party.

At the initial meeting - the Barata-Phathi delegates sang anti-oppression anthems like Saul: why do you persecute me? They danced and denounced the ruling BDP leadership-style and generally the way the country is being run - specifically by President Ian Khama and the fact that some influential BDP members seemed to tolerate it. The 30 demands that they submitted were essentially an indictment on Khama and his leadership-style. The demands could easily have come from any opposition party, trade union or from any aggrieved member of the public. But now that the party is almost registered, the Barata-Phathi can no longer be seen as a group within the BDP.  This paper would like to give unsolicited advice. 

Barata-Phathi is an embodiment of the non-A-team sentiment- an anti-Khama-style of leadership  feeling. They believe he will reverse the country's gains made under his predecessors: his father Sir Seretse Khama,  Sir Ketumile Masire and the forthright, Festus Mogae. The party wants a return to democracy to save the country from slipping into a dictatorship.

It says it wants a fresh breath in the Constitution and a raft of policies that have become obsolete. It wants a new, more relevant type of democracy. Our advice is this:  Now that you are a party, show the nation something concrete that says you are a government-in-waiting, something that says you possess the necessary wherewithal to serve the people.

For example, what will the new party offer Batswana in terms of poverty eradication, citizen economic empowerment, and privatisation? What educational policies will the new party come up with? How will the party deal with urgent foreign policy issues? How will it deal with regional issues and bodies like SADC, SACU? Granted, we cannot expect the party to immediately come up with far-reaching policies.

However, the party should still be able to give a general picture of what Batswana should expect. It is important that it is not just seen as a party of malcontents, who bolted from the BDP stables simply because Khama is the helmsman. We should be able to say that when we take away the disgruntlement about Khama - the Khama factor, away from the Barata-Phathi's list of grievances for setting up as a new party, the superstructure will remain standing.

We believe that Barata-Phathi, together with the other two main opposition parties - BNF and the BCP - will help provide greater checks on the government for the greater good of the nation.  

                                                                  Today's thought

The only force that can overcome an idea and a faith is another and better idea and faith, positively and fearlessly upheld.

                                                                - Dorothy Thompson