A member of the opposition Botswana Movement For Democracy (BMD)’s interim leadership, Dr Wilson Thupeng, has urged Batswana to resume the debate on the review of the country’s constitution.
Dr Thupeng made this call at a BMD press conference organized to brief members of the press on what the party’s fund raising efforts had yielded.
The party announced that after a long and strenuous journey, it had managed to raise enough money to clear its debt of P321651.40 owed to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).
The amount, which was paid in the form of a bank guaranteed cheque, has been paid to BDP lawyer, Collins Newman and Company.
Thupeng said that the Motswaledi ordeal is a clear indicator that democracy is expensive.
“Let us begin the debate on the review of the constitution; there are some things we need to fix,” he stated.
Thupeng said that the public needed to resume the debate irrespective of whether those in the executive supported the idea or not.
Also speaking at the press conference, interim party deputy chair and Leader of the Opposition, Botsalo Ntuane, stated that maybe time was ripe to discuss with other stakeholders about means by which constitutional cases could be funded.
Ntuane said that although his party enjoyed a lot of following such did not necessarily mean that they had money.
Ntuane also applauded BMD interim treasurer Guma Moyo and the party’s finance committee for spearheading the fund raising campaign.
He said that although the contributions came from the ordinary members of the public, the campaign team was working under pressure since each team had a target. He said of the campaign strategy.
Moyo, however, refused to disclose how much the party had raised through its campaign. He indicated that although BMD had paid off Motswaledi’s legal debt, the party will continue to raise funds for itself.
“We thank members of the public for their assistance; the matter is closed…we urge all of us to now focus on matters that can build this nation,” he said. “I am happy that our people have claimed their vision…with their hearts and resources, they have extinguished a debt that they believed was their own, a debt they were willing to incur to live out the vision they saw for themselves. I am proud,” Moyo said on Thursday.
