BMD fails to meet UDC deadline
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Friday February 16, 2018 15:42
Because of the headache the BMD finds itself in, now the UDC National Executive Committee (NEC) is faced with a mammoth task of whether or not to accept the party at the February 23, 2018 congress.
Pundits are of the view if the UDC leadership sidelines their troublesome affiliate it will further polarise the coalition. There are unconfirmed reports that if the movement is kicked-out of the congress it will seek court intervention on an urgent basis, a move the UDC is not prepared for.
“Only a few constituencies of BMD have complied. Strictly speaking, they should be locked out. They are just quiet and have boycotted the meeting of the secretary generals of the alliance member parties this week, which was going to review progress,” a source said.
This, according to the source, forced UDC to extend their deadline on submission of delegates from last Friday to today. It was the second time UDC had postponed deadlines for delegation submissions.
This happened despite the UDC NEC having decided to go against the constitutional requirement for parties’ representation to the national congress.
It was after some coalition members being unable to raise the stipulated members to congress, the executive decided to allow parties to bring 10 delegates per constituency.
The UDC constitution clause 11.2.2 stipulates: “Each group member in good standing with the umbrella, is entitled to send one delegate for every 750 members or part thereof provided that the majority of these delegates are members of their organisation”.
Apart from the BMD, the other party that has failed to meet the deadline and submit its delegation per the constitution is Botswana People’s Party (BPP).
It is common cause that the moribund BPP does not have structures in place. The North East based party’s fortunes have been alarmingly declining for decades and now the party has one councillor in the whole country.
Last month, the UDC announced that the UDC NEC has agreed that each party should bring 10 delegates per constituency instead of one for every 750 members per constituency.
“The NEC wants all parties to have equal representation. Only two parties had managed to submit,” the UDC leadership said at the time, whose deadline for submission of delegates was February 9, 2018. “Our congress is end of this month.”
Reached for comment, UDC head of communications Moeti Mohwasa said it is true that UDC was forced to extend their deadline because some of the structures could not comply and they wanted to accommodate everyone.
“The delegation is done at constituency level and they should be signed to show that indeed that structure is in that particular area,” Mohwasa explained.
He then refused to discuss the issue of attendance with the media.