Swords drawn for Maun East

KETO SEGWAI
Staff Writer | Friday July 25, 2008 00:00

 

Ramsden will be testing his strength against Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) colleague, Claude Gabanakemo, during the party's primary election on 26 July.

The youthful Gabanakemo or 'Sephatsa' comes from a non-government background. At some point he was the executive secretary of the Botswana Society for the Disabled. In 2004, he contested the party primaries but conceded to Ramsden. He was reluctant to be interviewed citing unclear party campaign regulations. His campaign manager, Phillip Wright, confessed: 'Re a boiha. We might be breaking party regulations'. Mmegi had wanted to establish the kind of projects the parliamentary aspirant would treat as priority areas.

Ramsden, the incumbent, believes he has a record to show to potential voters. He explained that when he came in after the 2004 general election, there was a National Development Plan (NDP 9) in place 'and we had to make sure all the programs were implemented'.

He readily cites the expansion of the Maun airport that he described as having been 'a struggle, and I pushed very hard that is implemented'. Though acknowledging the unfortunate situation where people had to be relocated, he takes pride in the fact that Disaneng, to where most Botshabelo residents were moved, 'is now the best township in Maun'.

Other projects he cites include the new bus and taxi rank, installation of street lights and traffic lights in the village.  But this latter category of projects is all behind schedule. He however attributes the delay to the implementing agency, the North West District Council. 

'Unfortunately for us, most of these development projects are being carried out by the local government through the NWDC. All major projects were erroneously given to one company. I don't think they had the capacity to implement them. I raised my concerns with the council on these matters'.

Ramsden disclosed that he needs to be re-elected so that he can complete the projects he has submitted for the forthcoming NDP 10. These include the tarring of Maun internal roads, access roads in Ngamiland, the construction of a second senior secondary school and an additional police station in the greater Maun, he said.

Ironically, it is this very record his rivals in the opposition parties intend to capitalise on during the 2009 general election. Should Ramsden manage to dispose of Gabanakemo next Saturday, he will still have to overcome two more huddles in the persons of Rodgers Makgetho and Lazenby Wright. Makgetho is a Botswana Alliance Movement-Botswana Congress Party (BAM/BCP) parliamentary candidate while Wright represents the Botswana National Front (BNF).

Makgetho, a former educationist like Ramsden, lashes out that projects are delayed specifically because people's representatives fail to provide effective leadership in terms of projects monitoring.

'Even if we take the people who have been relocated to Matshwane, Disaneng and other places, there are not provided with potable water. In fact, for long Maun residents have complained about the quality of water in the village'.

Makgetho maintains there is a dearth of infrastructural development in the constituency.  He cites the state of internal roads in areas such as Boseja and Kubung. He says he has long called for an additional clinic, school and a police station in Boseja but in vain.

'Government must construct a senior secondary school in Ngamiland, beside the one earmarked for Shakawe. After all, even the senior school in Maun is not a government school but is owned by the mission,' noted the veteran teacher of 37 years.  He retired in 2003.

Makgetho also disparaged government's tourism policy, noting that it has failed to exploit the sector's full potential in the region. 'Everybody talks of our region as the country's tourism hub, yet we have little to show for it.  More of our people could be benefiting from the sector had the policies been enabling'.

He further decried the poor provision of social and health services. In particular, he points to the overcrowding and delays that pensioners and people with disability have to endure at post offices.

'Though government has done a commendable job on HIV/AIDS, it is worrisome that in most cases there are no drugs in our dispensaries'.

The political swashbuckler, that is Wright or 'Mc.D' as he is popularly known, picks the onslaught. He says one of his top priorities, should he make it to parley, will be re-opening the Botswana Meat Commission abattoir in the village.

'The abattoir was closed on the account of the outbreak of the CBPP (cattle lung disease as it is commonly called), now we are being told other stories like it is uneconomical to operate it. BMC now seems to place emphasis on profits, but it was meant to be a service provider not a profit-making focused machine,' says Wright.

Interestingly, Wright, a businessman, was part of the group of Ngamiland residents that took government to court seeking to halt the mass slaughter of cattle in the aftermath of the CBPP. The group lost the case but they managed to extract a concession from government that allowed the consumption and sale of the meat in butcheries.

Recently he was part of a delegation from Ngamiland that sought audience with the Office of the President on the effects of the foot-and-mouth (FMD) outbreak in that region. Among their requests to government, the group had wanted school fees to be waived for the region's children, freezing of National Development Bank (NDB) loan servicing until FMD eradication, financial assistance to farmers and the opening of the abattoir.

Other issues Wright considers as deserving of urgent attention include 'the construction of a second police station in Boseja and the upgrading of Kgosi Kegaisamang Ramokwena's kgotla in Boseja to become a court of records'. 

Should he make it to parliament, Wright intends to push government to develop the agro-industries, as 'they are good for growth and employment creation. In view of the looming food crisis, it is only logical for government to embark on a massive agricultural undertaking. Irrigation is the way to go'.

Turning to tourism, Wright maintained that 'we should be benefiting from this sector adequately. The government should have at least reserved 40 per cent of the concessions for Batswana. As it is now, we lose a lot of tourism income through the operators' externally held bank accounts. Government knows this but seems powerless to correct the situation'.

When the three candidates finally meet in October next year, what do they see as either advantages or disadvantages? 
Ramsden's opponents think he is advantaged in that he is not only an incumbent MP but is also an assistant minister, which boosts his public visibility. Though he acknowledges the advantages of incumbency, he cautions that that in itself can equally be a disadvantage. 'My rivals have all the time in the world to campaign. As a minister I have little time to spare for the campaigns'.

But Wright disagrees. 'The party that we are to encounter is well-resourced and uses state resources. But at the end of the day people will have to listen to an individual who articulates their problems and they will pass their judgment. I know better what challenges we face in this region and I am ready to articulate them'.

Makgetho's take is that ministers use state resources to disguise their campaigns. 'They undertake extensive tours, dubbed official tours. Yet in reality are campaign tours. One addresses a kgotla meeting during the day and in the afternoon or evening is back to party work. Though Ramsden could be having resources, he is not giving me sleepless nights'.

Makgetho was in a three-tiered poll in the 2004 general elections with Ramsden and Michael Wright, Lazenby's brother, who stood on the BCP ticket. Ramsden won that poll with 4,261 votes against Makgetho's 2,513 and Wright's 1,392. BAM and BCP have since entered into a pact and are fielding Makgetho, together with six BCP and three BAM ward candidates. Is that not an advantage to him? 

'Yes, it is an advantage. All that I need to do now is to make the potential voters know who is likely to deliver between my opponents and me. I intend to put up a fierce campaign which is not only targeted at our members but also sympathizers and undecided voters,' responds Makgetho.

For his part, Ramsden is dismissive of the threat posed by the BAM/BCP cooperation. 'The opposition has cooperated before and nothing came out of it. I have been an MP for all the people of Maun, not only just the BDP members. So people will weigh and decide on the best candidate,' Ramsden says.

Wright joined the BNF in 1985 and rose to become the party's chairman for Maun-Chobe constituency from 1998 to 2001. During the party's Kanye congress he was elected to the central committee as secretary for the control commission, the position he held until his resignation from the party in 2003.

After his resignation he joined the BDP for six months during which period he contested in that party's parliamentary elections that he lost. He returned to the BNF the following year and contested the Kgosing ward under the BNF-BAM pact ticket. He polled 77 votes against BDP and BCP's 517 and 82 respectively.

Commenting on his BDP sojourn, Wright retorted that 'ke ne ke ile go tsaya ditholwa - I was on a spying mission. Some of our trusted comrades in the BNF knew about the real reason behind that mission'.