Boko, Molapise meet over BPP constituency demand
Chakalisa Dube | Friday June 9, 2017 16:40
Boko is said to have made the remarks during a meeting with BPP president Motlatsi Molapise and UDC vice president Ndaba Gaolathe recently in Gaborone. One of the UDC conveners, Lebang Mpotokwane was also part of the meeting.
“The meeting was purely on administrative matters of the UDC but the BPP issue (on constituencies) was raised by Molapise. Boko then responded by stating that he will make sure that the matter is resolved as soon as possible,” said a reputable insider within the UDC.
At the meeting, Boko is said to have acknowledged that the BPP is underrepresented. Sometime early this year, the BPP wrote a strong worded letter to its UDC partners demanding to be given more constituencies instead of the four it had been allocated. With four constituencies the BPP said it felt underrepresented.
The BPP is demanding four additional constituencies. The BPP wrote a follow up letter in March but its UDC partners did not respond. Two weeks ago the BPP leadership resolved that Molapise should approach Boko to settle the matter. The UDC partners are the BPP, Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana Congress Party (BCP). The BNF got 22 constituencies, BCP 17 while the BMD will contest the elections in 14 constituencies.
The parties will contest the constituency with the ruling party at the 2019 general elections. Molapise would not confirm or deny that he had met with Boko and Gaolathe.
Mpotokwane confirmed the meeting but said it was purely on administrative matters that he could not discuss with the media.
Yesterday UDC spokesperson Moeti Mohwasa confirmed that Boko met Molapise and Gaolathe in a closed-door meeting but would not go into details for confidentiality reasons.
“It is worrying that details of internal party gatherings continue to be leaked to the media,” said Mohwasa yesterday.
Mmegi has established that Gaolathe, Molapise and Boko will meet in Francistown later this month where it is speculated that they will finalise the constituency allocation matter. The meeting was supposed to be held today (Friday) but has been called off due to Boko’s busy schedule. Insiders have revealed that the BPP is willing to settle for the Francistown West constituency alone. The constituency has been given the BCP. As per the proposal of the BPP, the BCP according to insiders will in return be given Gaborone South.
All the parties within the UDC have an agreement that they will exchange constituencies as and when needed. In March this year some BCP members also urged their leadership to request that the party be given a constituency in Gaborone where its president Dumelang Saleshando will possibly contest.