UDC Statement On Attacks On The Umbrella And Its Leadership
Correspondent | Monday October 30, 2017 14:59
The trend has taken the form of sustained attacks on the UDC in general, and its leadership in particular, by individuals who only a few months were colleagues in the UDC project.
After being approached by the same group to help resolve the problems in their party, and having put forth a set of resolutions that would have placed the BMD on a path to finding a lasting political solution to its internal problems, we are naturally disappointed that the same people chose to dump the process and bolt from their party to found a new formation. While we are left wondering if they were genuine in approaching the BMD to intervene, we do not wish to be drawn into trading accusations with them.
We will not descend to the low level of name calling and mudslinging that some within our friends’ group seem to have decided is the best way to state their case. We find it intriguing that they now seek to blame the UDC for what was essentially a party political internal matter which should have been resolved through the organisation’s internal processes.
Those of us who have been in the trenches of opposition politics much longer, know very well who gains when formations in the opposition turn on each other. It is the BDP. It is in this light that we urge restraint amongst all members of the parties under UDC, and that they should desist from attacks on colleagues who have gone to form the AP.
Our focus, as the UDC family, is to continue the mandate of our constituent parties to mobilise the nation to effect a change of government in 2019, and that change will be led by the UDC. As the only real and realistic option to unseat the corrupt BDP government, the UDC remains committed to building a united opposition to take on the BDP in the next general elections.
The people’s project will not be derailed. The nation looks to us to deliver on this promise, and it is a promise from which we will not deviate.
When, as Botswana opposition parties, we chose to put aside our individual identities, and coalesced into a single one under the UDC, we entered into a social contract with the people of Botswana that we have heard their cry for us to combine forces and deliver our nation from the BDP despair. We hold this social contract sacrosanct. Those who have no respect for the sanctity of a contract should not expect us to join them in tearing apart a covenant that we have entered into with our people to save our country from the corruption and looting of the BDP regime.
We will indeed take back our country from the kleptomaniacs in the BDP, and put it on the path of true democracy, and a fair and inclusive economic growth.
We also note an outright disinformation and character assassination campaign waged by some sections of the news media that are driven by motives other than the professional tenets of journalism. In the rush to carry out their agenda, they have discarded the principles of truth and fairness.
Unfortunately, they do great disservice to a very noble profession and the nation of Botswana by failing to offer a fair and objective picture of what is happening. What is published as analysis and political commentary fails every test.
Rest assured, the people can see through the disinformation, bias and propaganda. As we have said before, what is written today will later be used for reference purpose and research.
Our future generation will therefore be fed with distorted and warped history. We would not however be swayed from our deep conviction and belief in the existence of an independent and self-regulating media.
* Moeti Mohwasa
UDC Head of Communication