Boko, Gaolathe in Russian rendezvous
Staff Writer | Tuesday October 17, 2017 18:00
Boko and Gaolathe travelled together to St Petersburg, Russia for the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, which kicked off on Saturday. Both leaders are members of the IPU. Back home, tensions have risen between supporters of the two leaders following the recent breakaway of Gaolathe’s camp from the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), a member of Boko’s Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) coalition.
Senior officials and supporters in the breakaway party, Alliance for Progressives and those aligned to Boko have since traded insults and accusations, particularly on social media, with the two men highlighting the split in the country’s opposition.
On Friday, some UDC supporters who were ignorant about the IPU assembly, raised concern about the two leaders travelling together. “Nobody knows why Boko travelled with Gaolathe to Russia. There are all kinds of traps the Botswana Democratic Party could lay for him to kill the UDC. It will be really sad if he bites the bait,” said a concerned UDC member.
The ruling BDP and its control over state apparatus, have been accused of fomenting the current divisions in the opposition, by playing one side against the other. The BDP, however, has frequently dismissed the accusations.
The IPU was founded in 1889 and is the world’s oldest international parliamentarian organisation. Its mission is to facilitate the establishment and improvement of parliamentary institutions, promote principles and norms of international law, and encourage cooperation of states and peoples.