The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) is a party that believes in the opinions of consultants. Whenever there is a problem that threatens the party’s fortunes at the polls, the red brigade has often sought the services of consultants to tell them what they are doing wrong and provide solutions on what they must do right. Even where they see the root of the problems, the BDP would rather choose to see those problems through the eyes of consultants. There is one South African consultant who has surely made a fortune out of BDP’s insatiable appetite for consultants. His name is Professor Lawrence Schlemmer. When the party was losing grip to the opposition during President Ketumile Masire’s tenure, it is said, Schlemmer was the one who recommended that Masire must step down and Ian Khama be brought in as Vice President to the next president, Festus Mogae, so he would eventually occupy the top seat and steer the BDP ship forward.
According to media reports, the party had engaged Schlemmer in 1997 to redeem the party as part of preparations for the 1999 general election when the opposition, particularly the Botswana National Front (BNF) was deemed to be poised to unseat the ruling party. I will not waste time arguing on whether Khama went on to steer the BDP forward or backward. However, we all know Khama became the only president in the history of the BDP to produce the party’s offspring, the Botswana Movement for Democracy. We also know that Khama is the only president in the history of the BDP to attain less than fifty percent of the popular vote in a general election. If I am not mistaken, sometime in 2005, the BDP, yet again, was said to have engaged the services of Schlemmer, to curb the waning performance and general instability within its ranks. He was reportedly engaged to turn around the party’s fortunes. Schlemmer was to further diagnose the nature and extent of the opposition threat to the BDP’s dominance. Furthermore, it was reported at the time that it was likely the consultant would attend the BDP congress which was to be held in Serowe, as part of his fieldwork. Media reports at the time said one of the terms of reference of the consultant was to determine the reason behind the BDP’s declining support base and advice on the implications of the trend on the party’s performance in 2009 and beyond. Schlemmer was to identify factors and core issues in the BDP that organisationally interact and lead to lack of unity. In his first report, Schlemmer had warned the BDP that while the country’s economy was successful, high unemployment led to a situation where majority of people felt left behind. He also warned them that there was a risk of the party facing punishment in the coming elections. He recommended that the BDP should reinvent itself as a party with an appeal to the disadvantaged and toiling masses instead of relying on its past record. That is what led to the departure of Masire and the arrival of Khama. Other critical issues they were advised on were; to bring in youth especially leaders with particular profiles and women as part of the rebirth process. Despite Schlemmer’s recommendations, the BDP’s performance continued to go down, mainly because even as they so much love consultants, the party gets a kick from ignoring their recommendations. In the build up to the last general elections (2014), the BDP yet again did what they do best; engaged the services of yet another consultant. This time they brought in the Israelites. They were spotted attending opposition rallies across the country as part of their consultancy work for the BDP. For the first time in the history of our politics, the opposition got the highest ever number of MP’s. The majority of the voters endorsed the opposition as BDP got only 47 percent of the popular vote.
Research has shown that the majority of the youth voted for the opposition. The BDP lost all constituencies where the youth play dominance. Just this past weekend, the BDP held their national council in Gaborone where their leader, Khama, dedicated almost an hour blaming the opposition for his party’s failures. He blamed everyone else but himself. Khama says Batswana are not voting for his party because the opposition infect the nation with lies. Curiously he is the same man who once told the nation that electricity deficit will never be a problem. Was he telling the nation the truth? Keep the answer to yourself. Still at the conference, it is reported that the party is in the dark as to why they are not attracting the youth vote. This is where they should engage me as their consultant because it will take me just five minutes to compile a report and give them the answers. First of all I would remind the BDP that this is 2016 and not 1966. Who in their right mind admonishes people, in 2016, for expressing their views on social media, as Khama never misses an opportunity to condemn the use of social media for expression of opinions? Why would you expect the youth to vote for you when you curtail their civil liberties, imposing draconian laws that impede on their freedoms? You honestly expect university students to vote for you when you treat them like primary school pupils who should not be seen anywhere near a liquor store?
University students are at a point in their lives where they must be allowed to enjoy their freedoms and even be allowed to experience some irresponsibility. It was very ill-conceived of the BDP led government to close down the liquor store at the University of Botswana. University students need to drink and waste their money so that they can learn and appreciate the impacts of irresponsibility, now and not after graduating. We don’t want them to start experiencing life and its ups and downs only after graduating and when they would be now working and probably having families to take care of. The youth will not vote for the BDP for as long as Khama expects them to sleep early on weekends and holidays. And quite frankly, the youth will never vote for a party whose president thinks it is wrong for lawyers to represent opposition parties and members as Khama labels such lawyers “opposition lawyers”. The youth will never vote for a party whose president feels any journalist who reports negatively on his government is worth the label “opposition journalist”. Give me that consultancy job and I will give you solutions.
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