During the recent Botswana Democratic Party launch of Kgomo ya Setswana election document in Tati Siding Village, Tati East Constituency, the Chairman of the Botswana Democratic Party’s Political, Elections and Education Committee (PEEC), Dr Magret Nasha, indicated that the factions that have long existed within the party have been futile and needed to be removed.
She alerted members of the ruling party that these factions needed to be acknowledged and be eradicated as they have harmed the party and have not benefited the party in any manner.
Nasha was officially launching the theme of Kgomo Ya Setswana, as a way of enlightening the party members that BDP needed to be treated like the notion in the theme, nurturing the cattle and benefiting from it in the longer run. She pointed out that, as Batswana, they had long benefited from cattle and have tended them to make a living; therefore it was imperative that they treated BDP with the same attitude.
She gave the example of her loss in the Gaborone 2004 elections, blaming it on factions that existed in the party.
“After losing the Gaborone Central elections, most people still needed my help, which clearly indicated that people were persuaded to vote for some candidate they did not want,” added Nasha.
She reminded the participants that a lot of people have shunned the BDP leadership as poor while in actual fact it has the people’s interest at heart. Nasha said that the BDP was like an enterprise, therefore, it needed to be nurtured so that it bore fruit and benefit people.
“Some of the BDP leaders have not accepted the reality that these factions were there in the party, and this has slowly corroded the party. Some will not deal with this reality because the truth hurts,” said Nasha.
Nasha illustrated that the reason why she decided to come up with the launch of this nature was that the committee was elected to look for good reasons why and how factions have affected the party. She also stated that most of the members of the BDP were not very informed about their rights in the party.
She reminded the BDP leadership in attendance that there was need for structured campaigns in plan so that they do not get out of topic during campaigns. She also urged the party membership to focus on generating income through fundraising events as this would help the party to run its affairs smoothly.
“It’s very crucial that there is need to network amongst part leaders and membership so that there is effective communication,” she said.
However, Nasha alerted the BDP members that elections were just around the corner and there was need that people should register to vote. She reminded them that in order to show that they were loyal members to the party there was need for them to work hard to sustain it in power.
She shunned some leaders for coming into the party with selfish motives, and warned the BDP members to be vigilant and be careful about such leaders.
“People should learn to be advocates to their party; if indeed you are a BDP member, you should love it, be loyal and defend it,” she said.
