As Botswana steadily takes baby steps towards the 2024 general election, there are fears that the identity and reputation of the country’s erstwhile formidable and promising opposition coalition has been contaminated beyond voters’ worst nightmares.
It is a fact that the formation of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) ushered in a new brand of politics unbeknown to Batswana in the process transforming Botswana’s political landscape.
Essentially, the formation of the UDC in 2012 offered renewed hope that there was a real possibility for a change of government after all other previous efforts at opposition cooperation at general elections had failed.
Since then, the UDC has always given voters an attractive alternative that they could have confidence in.
The UDC gave Batswana some form of assurances that the country would be in safe hands if the BDP were booted out.
This was not an achievement attained overnight or by deception and blackmail, more so that opposition parties often face the challenge of lack of public trust.
In order to get the confidence of the voters, the UDC has had to present a consistent, feasible and comprehensive message of hope.
Before then, a combination of immaturity, lack of seriousness, incessant infighting and lack of resources to traverse the country and connect with the voter meant that the fragmented opposition parties never really presented themselves as serious contender for state power.
Yet, after closing ranks, branding and rebranding to project itself as a genuine government-in-waiting, voters no longer worried about the risk of bringing in people who have no idea of what running a government entailed.
Since then many voters have come to identify with its message and its commitment to confront corruption and patronage in the economy, and have consciously chosen to pledge their support to this coalition that seeks to clean up government and prosecute those who have milked the economy in order to recover stolen public assets.
Desperate as they were, voters had embraced the UDC coalition on promise of having a clean government that is not in cohort with thieves, looters and certified petty criminals.
This meant that the salvation for the UDC was to preserve its image at all costs if it desired to hold on to its founding norms and values that ensured its relevance and attractiveness.
Not only was the UDC business-minded but most importantly the coalition was fundamentally different from the disgusting and fetidly corrupt BDP.
The UDC was a well-organized, policy-focused people’s bulwark against governmental ineptitude and excesses and had moved beyond self-indulgent anti-government zealotry.
Not anymore!
The erstwhile politically potent UDC has experienced a series of life threatening setbacks and splits due to perennial internecine rivalry and its messy leadership issues.
Centralization of power, disagreement over strategy and the big man syndrome have all combined to paralyze what was an impressive cooperation project.
It is noted that at the time the BCP joined the UDC project, many voters who were frustrated by the fragmentation and lack organizational abilities rejoiced in the expectation that the managerially astute BCP was going to help in stabilizing the people’s project.
And indeed the BCP brought in the finesse and shrewdness as to transform the UDC into an opposition movement that represented a viable contender for state power in a country itching for a change of government.
The UDC matured into being the leader of our society.
Essentially, the infusion of the BCP’s undisputed organizational skills into the UDC’s systems helped to reshape the UDC and graduate it from being just an opposition political grouping for the purpose of speaking against the BDP rule to being a genuine government-in-waiting.
It enabled the UDC to display the swagger characteristic of a united and business-minded alternative government.
Although the UDC had managed to rope in the much sought after BCP, the opposition went into the 2019 general election badly divided and gifted victory to the BDP.
This was so because as the BCP was preparing to join the UDC, the BMD had its members embroiled in an internal scuffle that eventually led to its split when some of its prominent members left to form a new party- the Alliance for Progressives (AP).
Nevertheless, the BMD disintegration did not really damage the coalition project since the UDC has managed to bring into the fold a highly prized asset in the form of BCP and its adept politicians. However, the reality was that the UDC was shaken.
At the end, the results of the 2019 general election again showed that a fully united opposition would trounce the ruling BDP on any day.
And so based on the recognition that the coalition project has generated a huge surge of support for opposition politics, the UDC still believes that it holds the trump card for opposition victory at the polls.
As a result of this self-seeking pursuit and in spite of its failure to manage its affairs in the interest of the whole rather than in the interest of certain individuals, the UDC remains steadfast in proclaiming that they remain a viable alternative.
Consistent with the business of political prostitution that has infiltrated party politics and the cheap claim that politics is a game of numbers and that politics do make strange bedfellows, the UDC is fast tracking arrangements to be joined in matrimony by an exclusive club of BDP dissidents going by the name Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).
Whereas it is important for the UDC to demonstrate that it is a temple for all political formations outside of the ruling establishment and that the coalition do not discriminate potential members on account of their political histories, blending former prominent ruling party functionaries into the opposition collective has the potential to pollute its identity and brand.
The UDC we know had a lot of confidence in its own foot soldiers and its unique electoral appeal anchored on sound policy alternatives and wouldn’t be attracted to some sworn treasure hunters with a rich history criminal behaviors.
The politics of the original UDC were a testament to the enduring demands for a complete change of government, basically because the ruling party’s economic recipe has proved a flop.
The BDP has long morphed into a criminal syndicate and no amount of deliverance can redeem its former members and/or adjust and recondition their taste buds to resist temptation of money.
For the UDC to do business with BDP rebels who dumped their party solely because their access to the cookie jar [perks and privileges of government] has faded away, is counterproductive, retrogressive and proves that the current UDC has a lot in common with the BDP.
The upshot of it all is that the UDC has evolved into a mere BDP faction led by a group of bourgeoisies loaned to opposition politics who want to board the gravy train using revolutionary politics.
Let it be noted that these political immigrants are not baggage carriers who would be content with any role in the party choir once inside the UDC.
Most are former MPs, Cabinet ministers and such other senior tomboys who boast of large followers and deep pockets by opposition standards.
Thus, the settlers will certainly demand to be parachuted into critical positions hence will be very influential in their new political home as to make their opinions, which are in actual fact BDP ideas, become UDC policies and culture.
With the BCP no longer active in the coalition, the reality is that the UDC’s political culture and quality of leadership has taken a serious dent and as a result, lacks the wherewithal to expand its appeal to the new voter.
A combination of BCP’s disengagement and the influx of BDP exiles means that the solution to save Botswana from the BDP cannot come from the UDC which has become a repackaged ragtag band of people who believe in taking turns to eat from public bowl, a BDP’s incarnation.
Essentially, it cannot make sense to mobilize and turn voters against the ruling BDP only give them a revised, upgraded version of the same species of freeloaders who have appropriated the UDC and trade as an opposition coalition.
Truth be told, a UDC government will be more of the same.
Batswana need authentic, unpretentious and sustainable political change and not just cosmetic change that involves replacing aged robbers with the more enterprising generation of looters who hunt in packs to maximize returns with the least amount of risk.
Voters should accept that the so-called people’s project has derailed and cannot be saved and it is time they put their money where their mouth is by start looking for another political home to invest their emotions.
At the same time, opposition parties outside of the UDC coalition ought to reorganize and reposition themselves in order to give voters a party or an alliance with principled, mature and dependable leadership ready to save Botswana from the wolves.
