BCP proposes one VP for UDC
Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday February 6, 2018 12:40
The opposition coalition currently has two vice presidents, being Dumelang Saleshando of the BCP and the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) president Sidney Pilane.
The members made the recommendation during a party leadership forum held in Palapye over the weekend.
'BCP members want the UDC constitution to cater for a single vice president so that it conforms with the constitution of the country. They also believe that our opponents are likely to use our current party constitution against us. Because we have two vice presidents they think our opponents are likely to portray us (in the eyes of the voters) as power-hungry people who want to create more positions once in power in order to accommodate some of our cronies,' BCP president, Saleshando opined.
Under the current arrangement, should the UDC take power in 2019 it will be forced to change the constitution of the country to accommodate two vice presidents.
'We have asked the members to refine their proposed constitutional changes and submit them to the party secretariat before the 15th of February,' he said. The proposals will be tabled at the UDC congress later this month.
The BCP leader also confirmed that BCP members want the issue of constituency allocation within the UDC to be revisited following developments at the BMD. This follows the departure of some BMD members to the new Alliance for Progressives (AP).
He was, however, not elaborate as he maintained that members have been asked to refine the proposal. There are those within the UDC who are said to be against the revision of constituencies.