Khama undermines Batlokwa by refusing with writ
Correspondent | Friday March 31, 2017 16:19
The constituents were left without a Member of Parliament (MP) when the area MP passed on in November 2016. It is four months now since the demise of the BNF iron lady Hon Same Bathobakae.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has long announced that they are ready for the by-elections and have since appointed a Returning Officer. The President therefore cannot blame the delay on the IEC.
It is clear the President does not care nor see the urgency to issue the writ of elections to have Batlokwa represented in Parliament. Batlokwa must have a voice in Parliament as the law provides for that but President Khama does not take Batlokwa seriously. Elections should have long been called and the substantive MP contributing in the current budget debate.
What is it that makes it difficult for the President to issue the writ? How long does it take him to issue the writ? Could it be resource constraints? Is it incompetence or laissez-faire in the Office of the President where he does not probably have competent advisers on important national issues or he refuses advice? Why cant he explain to Batlokwa constituents and the nation at large what it is that makes it difficult for him to issue the writ? Is it that the President is failing to uphold one of his own revered pillars of DELIVERY?
Tlokweng constituents should rise and punish the BDP for being neglected, undermined, sidelined and insulted by President Khama’s conduct. Khama and the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) are their number one enemy. By now, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) charismatic and visionary candidate Cde Kenneth Masego Segokgo could have raised several issues in Parliament through relevant ministries on Tlokweng and the nation at large, through questions and motions. He would have raised issues on Batlokwa land; Construction of a unified secondary school in Tlokweng to cater for the sub-district; Asked when the 23 year old Revised National Policy on Education was last systematically evaluated and why it cannot be revised as it may have become redundant. That such a policy may help resolve the recent numerous crises in education. To ask if there were any other fresh job creation strategies for the youth as the current ones have all failed.
Why Government cannot consider coming up with a farming scheme or any other economic scheme to target the middle aged group and those about to retire (40 to 60 years) so as to seduce them to retire into farming or other economic activities especially that most of them have basic resources, interest, skill, experience in farming and other economic activities as this would boost food sufficiency, create vacancies and new jobs for the unemployed youth. He would have further asked what is being done to promote good labour relations especially with the public sector unions as the current relations are at their lowest and the Government seems to be in the forefront fuelling the wars, resulting in low morale, low productivity, etc; and how far the Freedom of Information Bill is as the current harassment of media workers by state agents is mainly due to lack of it.
He would have asked for a list of all Government companies, or any other Government entities that the government intends to sell under the guise of privatisation and to give a time line for such as public assets are already being secretly stripped. But President Khama and his BDP do not see the need for an MP in Tlokweng. There was nothing stopping the President to issue the writ end of January and having the bye-election end of February. The 2017 Budget session of Parliament started 6th February and ends in April and the elected MP would have contributed immensely in Parliament. The national cake is being shared but Batlokwa have been shut out.
In the meantime, the President continues playing Tom and Jerry with the Tlokweng writ as he wants to give his BDP more time to stabilise their bitter dog fights, and to further help them catch up on the campaign trail. A record four frantic ministers have been sent to Tlokweng recently to try to campaign for the BDP under the ministerial guise and these includes Prince Maele, Thapelo Olopeng, Thato Kwerepe and Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi. More are still to come. Unfortunately, the President is wasting his time as the die has been cast, Batlokwa want Kenneth Segokgo of UDC. The more Khama delays, the more he annoys Tlokweng constituents, even the few warring BDP members. In fact, the warring BDP factions were started by President Khama in 2014 and this is now affecting Tlokweng developments. We call upon President Khama to issue the writ of elections before the end of March 2017 and to apologise to Batlokwa and Batswana in general for the unnecessary delay, humiliation and suffering he has subjected them to. Failure to do so, we call upon Batswana, whose popular vote in 2014 was 53%, and which has hypothetically increased to over 60%, not to take the BDP and its leaders seriously, and to organise national protest activities against Khama and the BDP’s abuse of office and state power.
*Justin Hunyepa is BNF publicity secretary and UDC labour secretary