FRANCISTOWN: Former Botswana People’s Party (BPP) president, Bernard Balikani, has denied rumours linking him with the party’s presidency.
Balikani was the BPP president from 2006 to 2009 but later left the party to join the then ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in 2012. He received wide acclaim after accepting responsibility for the BPP’s heavy loss in the 2009 General Election and subsequently quit his position as the leader of the party-a rarity in the Botswana politics. In the 2009 General Election, Balikani was standing against Wynter Mmolotsi of the BDP and Vain Mamela of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). Political dynamics have shifted enormously after 2009 since Mmolotsi is the now new minister of Environment and Tourism under the banner of ruling Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) while Mamela stood for a parliamentary seat under the BCP ticket in Francistown East.
Balikani said after his dismal loss in the 2009 polls: “This dismal loss on its own scarred the party very badly, and I take full responsibility for the embarrassment that this party suffered. It is against this background that I have decided to step down from the party leadership with immediate effect.” BPP insiders have told Mmegi that ‘Balikani’s audacious hope for the BPP’s presidency is a long shot’ since he is eyeing the presidency at a time when the party is rocked by internal fights which have led to the suspensions of key members pending disciplinary hearings for alleged misconduct. According to sources privy to what is happening in the organisation, even though the party tries to downplay the seriousness of its internal wrangling, so serious are the in-fighting and divisions within the BPP that they threaten to tear it apart.
The party has not held its elective congress in many years and most of its central committee members are functionaries who were co-opted after they joined it from other opposition parties. The BPP has denied that the suspensions of some of its members are in anyway linked to the party’s upcoming elective congress, which date is still unknown, but due to misconduct within its ranks. Asked whether or not he harbours becoming the president of the BPP after he rejoined it in 2019, Balikani chose to keep his cards close to his chest saying: “Nobody has ever approached me to become the president of the BPP again, but I will consider that if I am approached.”
“I don’t think about that because in Botswana people move from one political party to another everyday. So that one should be left to the delegates of the BPP to decide during the party’s upcoming elective congress. If people want to vote for you, they will do that even if you had once left their party for another one. Similarly, they may not vote for you even if you had not left them for another political party. And, remember that I have an excellent history with the BPP. I was born in the BPP. I started being active in the BPP in 1993,” he said when asked about his chances of returning to the party top post.
Balikani said he rejoined the BPP from the BDP because he was not compatible with the latter’s ideals. “I joined the BDP a long time ago and I stayed there for a very short time. During my time in the BDP, I was never active in their affairs. Literally, I was not a BDP member. I returned to the BPP because it is the party that I was born in. My parents are BPP members. I was not comfortable with the culture of the BDP and I felt out of place,” Balikani underscored.