Analysts dismiss newly formed BRP :: Mmegi Online

FRANCISTOWN: After so much speculation, Biggie Butale and other former members of the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) have confirmed that they have formed their own party, the Botswana Republican Party (BRP). Butale and some of his sympathisers have fallen out with BPF members aligned to former president Ian Khama and Mephato Reatile.

The latter is the BPF president while Khama is the party patron. It is almost certain that the BPF was fairly rattled by the departure of Butale and company. But the formation of the new party has been met with sheer doubt by some critics. Most of them have questioned the viability of forming the new party on account of numerous reasons.

Firstly, BRP detractors are adamant that the space for activism by opposition parties is saturated. That is, there are many opposition parties and most of them have the same fundamental ideologies or beliefs. To critics, the ideological similarities might mean that Butale must do the extra ordinary to convince people to associate with the BRP instead of other parties.

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