In the midst of the losses mostly to its parent organisation, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), some sections of the public, including some BCP bigwigs, are of the view that the party should swallow its pride and hold talks with the UDC to resolve their differences with a view to dethroning the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) from power in next year’s polls.
The BCP will approach the Mapoka- Nlakhwane by-election at an all time low after it fired blanks in the recent by-elections following its interim exit from the UDC following differences over good governance issues.
The BCP and UDC had been drawn into humiliating tit for tat in the public domain following their bitter fallout. The stay of the BCP within the UDC will be determined by its members during its elective conference in July.
Some people are of the view that after the BCP fired blanks in the recent by-elections, its performance is a precursor to what will befall it in the 2024 plebiscite should its supporters give it the green light to permanently ditch the UDC. In spite of the recent losses, the BCP’s spokesperson Mpho Pheko is upbeat that the party has learnt important lessons from its losses and will give the UDC and BDP a run for their money in the Mapoka- Nlakhwane poll. Following assumptions from some sections of the public, Pheko said the BCP is still a force to reckon with.
“The BCP wishes to start by clearing some serious misconceptions.
The BCP has no pride to swallow regarding its position vis-à-vis the UDC. For it to contest the 2024 elections under UDC in its current form, the BCP must sacrifice its soul and abandon its responsibility to the nation. Our differences with UDC are substantive and fundamental. Good democratic governance, the defining features of which are – constitutionalism and rule of law, human rights, free and fair democratic elections, competent government, accountability, transparency and popular participation - is the primary reason for our existence,” Pheko said.
Those who say we must stay in the UDC regardless of how it conducts itself do not appreciate the gravity of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the UDC’s decision to run the coalition under the Transitional Clause, which essentially suspends the rest of the UDC’s constitution, she continued. “That decision effectively stripped members of all the rights and protections provided for in the substantive clauses of the constitution. It allowed the NEC to define the UDC as something other than what its constitution says it is, and to usurp the powers of all structures of the party, from the National Congress, through the Governing Council (Central Committee) to regional and constituency congresses. It essentially rendered the UDC a fraud. The BCP cannot help people who behave as the leaders of UDC do to assume state power,” she clarified.
When asked that taking into consideration the rate at which the party has been losing the recent by-elections to the UDC, is the BCP not worried that some voters (within and without the BCP) may consider it a spent force not worthy of their votes during the looming Mapoka- Nlakhwane by-election and the general elections next year, Pheko said: “Our performance in by-elections we have contested outside UDC, whilst disappointing, has not surprised us at all. Remember, we expended the entire 2019 election campaign cycle on promoting the UDC brand at the expense of the BCP’s. Furthermore, we were not on the ballot in 2019.” “So we enter every by- election from a position of disadvantage because we are essentially re-introducing ourselves to voters whilst the BDP and UDC build on their 2019 elections campaigns.
That is the price we pay for rejecting the logic of regime change at any cost and being unprepared to sacrifice good democratic governance for state power. That said, the results of the by-elections, from Bophirima to Bosele, point to two very encouraging realities. First, the BCP is resilient and its base is intact. It is far from a spent force. Second, there is a significant block of voters who identify with our reasons for contesting elections outside UDC, people who are repulsed by the UDC’s positions and practices in relation to good democratic governance. They constitute a very strong constituency with significant potential for growth. We take this constituency very seriously,” Pheko stated.
“We believe that there is sufficient time between now and 2024 for us to demonstrate the recklessness of the logic of regime change at any cost, draw contrasts between ourselves, BDP and UDC and debunk much of the deceit that propels the UDC. We wish to give Batswana confidence to vote for the coalition we are building with Botswana Labour Party (BLP) and Alliance for Progressives (AP) as this new coalition is committed to offering a change program that is guided by the values of good governance, constitutionalism, accountability as well as led by leaders with a high sense of integrity and a deep commitment to our beloved country and the citizenry,” she added. The BCP, Pheko went on, is confident that its position and track record on governance are just what Botswana needs. “Look at what is happening in Parliament.
It is BCP affiliated legislators who offer the most robust oversight of the executive and offer the most coherent solutions to the nation’s problems. For these reasons, we are excited about the looming bye-election in Mapoka- Nlakhwane. We are even more excited about our 2024 elections prospects,” Pheko emphasised. The BCP mouthpiece also said the party has done a postmortem of why it lost the recent by-elections and will mount a strong challenge in future. “We have indeed evaluated our performance after every by-election. As stated above, the fact that we were not on the ballot in 2019 and therefore expended our energies in the 2019 election cycle on selling the UDC puts us at a decisive disadvantage vis-à-vis UDC and BDP, who build on their 2019 elections campaigns. Secondly, we contested these by-elections against two very well resourced parties,” she elucidated.
It is common knowledge that the UDC is funded by billionaire foreigners, which raises the question of whether a UDC government, should there be one, will in fact not be captured in advance, said Pheko.
“It is also common knowledge that the BDP exploits the crony patronage system it has built to get money from business people, mostly through corrupt tenders, as well as through the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS). The BCP depends on small donations from members and well-wishers.” Pheko also allayed fears over the vaunted relationship which is said to have hit rock bottom. “We have indeed seen newspaper reports that suggest differences between the AP and BCP endanger the cooperation talks. We acknowledge that the two parties have not agreed on a few issues that we are not at liberty to discuss publicly because there are established channels for sharing information on the talks. We can confirm, however, that these differences are not out of the ordinary in negotiations of the type we have entered into with AP and BLP. We are confident that they can be resolved.
The Secretary General of the AP was recently on radio confirming that they are as committed as ever to the successful conclusion of the talks. We take their word on the matter. We also confirm that we are also as committed to the successful conclusion of the talks as ever,” Pheko said. She added: “We can also confirm that throughout these talks, the BCP has negotiated in good faith, has been honest and principled in its engagement with AP and BCP, and has been absolutely faithful to the objectives of the talks and every agreement and principle that governs them.
We believe our partners can confirm that we never departed from any agreement to seek undue advantage for ourselves, and that quite to the contrary, we have sacrificed in a number of instances where agreed objective criteria suggests matters should have been decided in favour of the BCP. The disagreements over Bosele, which the Secretary General of the AP alluded to in his interview, were indeed quite unfortunate in our view.” “On this one, as in all instances, our claim to the right to contest was based purely on hard evidence and the best interest of the coalition we are building. The BCP contested Bosele under UDC in 2019 and garnered 487 votes. The AP contested on its own and received 138 votes.
The BLP did not contest because it did not exist in 2019. Purely on the strength of these numbers, we thought it would be easy for the parties to agree on who was best positioned to secure the best performance for the proposed coalition. That did not happen! We trust that all the concerned parties will take important lessons out of Bosele,” Pheko said.
