Indications are that there are some members of the BMD high command who are toying with the idea of an alliance with the Botswana Democratic Party.
These are members of the Botswana Movement for Democracy who have reached a conclusion that continuing on the current Umbrella path with the Botswana National Front is a fruitless effort.
Bizarrely, such BMD members want, among other options, the BDP to consider admitting them as a group member. Perhaps even more profound have been hints of a possible Pact alliance with the BDP.
I can’t help but ask myself the question: just why is this section of the Botswana Movement for Democracy ratcheting for a cause that they should know will never happen?
In their early days, BMD often reminded us how evil the BDP had become under Ian Khama.
To turn around in a space of two years and covertly seek to get in bed with Khama’s BDP is, in my opinion, a step too far.
Are they now telling us that the BDP under Khama has since reformed? One cannot help but sense frantic efforts at self-preservation.
It is doubtless that the BMD has been running on a streak of bad luck. That is to be expected in opposition.
But in their desperate attempts to retain relevance, the BMD seems to be committing mistakes that can only further undermine their net worth.
They fail to internalize the simple fact that what they are going through is nothing strange.
Their difficulties are very much a part of being in opposition.
It may sound offensive, but how on earth can it be that an opposition party created barely two years ago could already be so exhausted of a life in opposition that it now seems hell-bent on devising all sorts of shortcuts to see itself at the top table?
Their fast pace of retreat is, however, not altogether surprising given that so many of them are used to the glamour of being in power.
And, lest we forget, they are, at least as a party, still to go through the draining terrain of a General Election!
BMD has clearly been less realistic about the hardships of life as an opposition.
There is a strong feeling among other opposition parties that BMD still has a long way to go before it can be worthy of receiving recognition as a true opposition party.
A resistance by some BMD leaders to conclusively detach themselves from the BDP can only add to the groundswell of suspicion among other opposition colleagues.
For some BMD leaders, a life outside the BDP has simply been unbearable. An existence of alienation that they now have to contend with in the opposition trenches is clearly not what they had perceived.
The truth though is that the thorny path that the BMD is only just starting to traverse has been so much a part of the other pretenders like BNF, BCP and BNF for much longer.
The BMD idea of brainstorming ideas to cooperate with the BDP will not be without controversy. More to the point, that idea will certainly not be short of critics, not least among the BNF and the BCP who have always been eager to point out that BMD was just the BDP by another name.
The BMD idea, however well intended, adds to the credibility of the argument by critics and skeptics ÔÇô who are by the way found across the political spectrum, that BMD has as yet not done enough to prove its credentials as worthy of admission into the hallowed ranks of true opposition politics.
The mere mention of BDP has enraged critics like never before.
For BNF hardliners, the mere mention of BDP makes BMD an unattractive baggage they find themselves condemned to be dealing with.
But there is a perspective to BMD wanting to work with the BDP.
BMD is today a much weaker party than it was some twelve months ago. This is not to say it is a dead party. Rather it is a party in need of leadership. The followers are there, all they need is a passionate voice that can remind them that the same reasons that brought their party into being remain in place.
It would seem like in their initial scheme of things they had imagined that by now they would be in power running the country.
BMD leadership, or that part of it that dreams of a relationship with the BDP, needs to be reminded of just how the scales of influence have since moved away from their party. Because the balance of power has shifted from their party (we do not know for how much longer) they are at best at the mercy of the BDP.
Weak as they are, for the BMD to mull any negotiations with the BDP is nothing short of placing undue emphasis on political sophistry.
While this is infinitely risky, the only thing open to BMD members is to beg the BDP to join as individuals. There is, however, no guarantee that they will be treated as legitimate members.
The cold shoulder given to some former BMD functionaries who have since retraced their steps back to the BDP is painful but not surprising.
Because BMD is presently going through a rocky terrain, it follows that their political capital purchase has also kind of leveled out. It thus can hardly be an opportune time for such a party to negotiate a truce, let alone an alliance with a buoyed BDP.
Chances of BDP accepting BMD advances are at present remote, not so much because the BDP does not want BMD members but simply because the ruling party no longer regards them as a threat.
In a broader scheme of things, the BDP is well advised to resist such backdoor advances.
