Now Masimolole hits out at BMD

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Wednesday December 1, 2010 00:00

 

Commenting on the President's State of the Nation address in Parliament yesterday, the MP, who retraced his steps back to the ruling party, said that he made a mistake by joining the BMD, and that he realised it after he had already left the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), voluntarily. But just as he was about to disclose the BMD secrets, he turned to opposition unity saying it would not work.

He said that it was strange for opposition parties to claim that Leader of Opposition in the House, Botsalo Ntuane's response to President Ian Khama's address represented the voice of all opposition parties. He said that if that were the case, deputy president of Botswana National Front (BNF), Isaac Mabiletsa and Botswana Congress Party (BCP) leader, Dumelang Saleshando would not have wasted their energy making similar responses. He cast doubt at chances of opposition unity succeeding.

However, the MP proved that he still believes in his right to exercise independent thinking when he called for a review of the Botswana Constitution, against the view held by many ruling BDP legislators. He said he believes that a constitutional review should be done with great caution to avoid doing the exercise with emotions, which may not yield the desired result.

Masimolole said the Constitution, for instance, needs to be clear on what the role of MPs and councillors is once the President has dissolved Parliament in the run-up to elections. This, he said, needs to be attended to as a matter of urgency.

The MP also called for the continuation of the volunteer Police Officers Programme and that government should build more satellite police stations in crime-prone areas like Tsolamosese, Nkoyaphiri and others. He said that the Ipelegeng programme and Constituency tournaments were perfect for empowerment.