Khama must help resolve strike - BDP youth leader

EPHRAIM KEORENG
Staff Writer | Friday May 20, 2011 00:00

Speaking at a rally in Goodhope on the on-going strike by civil servants on Wednesday, Vice-chairman of the BDP National Youth League (BDPYL) Executive Committee Kopo Mononi said, 'In times like these the President has to step out and address the nation and tell people he is still committed to the office he occupies. He should assure Batswana that he will return the situation to normal.'

In an interview with Mmegi yesterday, Mononi, who is also a specially elected councillor in Goodhope, said people in the BDP are in the dark about what the government is doing to address the strike.

He added that out of loyalty to the President and party, they have been quiet for a long time, 'but when people's lives are threatened and lost in hospitals and clinics and other areas, because of the strike, we can't keep quiet anymore.

'As a responsible youth leader I feel I have a duty to speak out against this state of affairs. I also believe that as youth in the ruling party we can put pressure on the central committee and the President to do something to end the strike,' he said. The BDP youth leader said he has so far met with union leaders who have since briefed him on the situation and the rationale behind their demand for a 16 percent salary increase. The government has now proposed a three percent unconditional raise, which the unions have rejected.

'We understand where they stand,' Mononi said adding that it appeared government is in denial on the effects of strike, pretending everything is well.

'Government should negotiate (with unions) in good faith,' he said.

'Right now they (government authorities) have decided that they will not show the strike on Botswana Television (Btv), but honestly there is nothing to hide. Everyone can see that things are bad; you go to hospitals, clinics and schools, they are closed,' he said.

For his part, Lobatse Member of Parliament (MP) Nehemiah Modubule of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), who was also at the Goodhope meeting, said Mononi's turnaround showed that Batswana have lost confidence in the President, adding that they were fed up with the Khama administration.

Modubule said Khama should resign to show that he respects people's wishes. 'He likes to say dictators in other countries should resign because people had shown that they had lost confidence in them, hence the protests demanding regime change. By the same token why is he (Khama) not stepping down himself when everyone says he should go?' Modubule said.

Modubule said it might come to a situation where, as opposition, they would find ways of removing Khama from the Presidency. 'MPs can, for instance, pass a motion of no confidence in Khama, thus forcing him to dissolve Parliament and call for fresh elections,' he said. When asked to respond to Mononi's comments, BDP official, Lee Lesetedi, declined, saying, 'I was not there so I would not want to comment on a matter that I didn't hear for myself,' he said.

Asked to comment on Modubule's position, Lesetedi referred Mmegi to his boss, BDP Executive Secretary Dr Comma Serema. Efforts to reach Serema were futile as his mobile phone rang unanswered.