Botswana Congress Party (BCP) President Dumelang Saleshando’s countrywide campaigns have got nothing to do with the troubled Umbrella project, party spokes person, Taolo Lucas, has stated.
Of late, Saleshando carried out a number of visits to the areas BCP marginally lost in the previous national elections, sparking speculations the party could be bracing itself for the collapse of Umbrella talks with other opposition parties.
“These are visits that the president of the party and the executive leadership have since planned and have nothing to do with the Umbrella,” argued Lucas, BCP publicity secretary, adding that the “the noble Umbrella project was no stoppage to the party’s mobilization and recruitment exercise”.
“The visits are meant to increase the party’s visibility as well as to check base,” Lucas said.
Saleshando and his executive team recently undertook a series of visits to Kweneng South East, Palapye and Francistown- some of the areas the party hopes it has greater chances of winning in the next general elections. In the last elections, the party lost these constituencies with slight margins. The BCP leadership visits have, however, sparked conspiracy theories that the ambitious party could be anticipating the crumbling of the Umbrella project – designed to dislodge the ruling Botswana Democratic Party, which has been in power for more than four decades. “The party president’s visit included the royal families, the chiefs, notable businessmen and the church leadership,” Lucas further revealed. “This country under the BDP governance is sick and needs to be cleansed of demons. Against this backdrop we decided that our party president carry the lighting rod to visit church leaders instead of sitting before the bonfires,” Lucas said.