Duma Boko has accused his detractors of trying to spark hatred between him and former President Lt. General Seretse Khama Ian Khama.
This is not the first time that Boko, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) President, has come to Khama’s rescue.
He did that on the eve of the general elections at a rally he addressed in Serowe – an election which saw him being beaten by a fellow lawyer in a constituency he thought he had a firm grip of by none other than Annah Mokgethi of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to his dismay.
Responding to media questions over his relationship with the former President during a UDC press briefing in Francistown on Sunday he said it is unfortunate that his detractors want him to hate Khama.
The UDC held a press conference as it officially welcomed Francistown West Member of Parliament (MP) Ignatius Moswaane who defected from the BDP to join the opposition.
“Just because I differed with President Khama’s administration does not mean that I should hate him. I know there are those who want us as the UDC to hate Khama. Why should we hate him? I did not grow up with Khama and I see no reason to hate him in the first place,” he said.
“I even warned him during his tenure as President that he should not appoint the current President Mokgweetsi Masisi as his vice and he did not take heed of my advice. He came back to and expressed his regret. In fact, Khama believes in me and that I have the qualities of a good leader. He has vowed to help UDC remove the BDP from power. The media should understand that politics is not about hate. UDC is not founded on hatred,” emphasized Boko.
In the past Boko publicly expressed his dislike for Khama to the extent of labeling him a “Demon,”.
He even assured the nation that once UDC assumed state power, the party would make sure that Khama and his cronies are prosecuted for corruption and sent to jail.
Shockingly prior to the 2019 elections the UDC extended an olive branch towards Khama as it began a working relationship with his newly established party Botswana Patriotic Front to unseat the BDP from power.
The UDC officially announced last month that it will be working with the BPF in preparations for the 2024 elections.
Boko’s critics have since accused him of a being a turncoat due to this relationship with the former President. There are already fears that that the relationship between Khama and Boko will cause disunity within the UDC as some members do not want anything to do with Khama.
Boko emphasized during the press briefing that he is a man who believes in righteousness and forgiveness. He however said that those who committed corruption crimes will be investigated and prosecuted when the UDC assumes state power.
“Proper investigations will be done and those involved in corruption will be charged and prosecuted unlike the current government which arrests suspects before investigations are done. A case in point is the P100 billion which is alleged to have been stolen from the government coffers. Bank of Botswana has since denied that there is such missing money,” he said.
Officially welcoming Moswaane to the UDC Boko said the BDP did not value and love the MP hence his decision to leave the party. Boko said that at some point he advised Moswaane to defect to the UDC as he had observed that the BDP hated Moswaane and would even kill him. He further accused President Mokgweetsi Masisi of embracing corruption.
“It is important for one to die for the truth. Even Jesus Christ was crucified for the truth and I believe in telling the truth as it is. People are tired of the BDP as it does not have the interest of Batswana at heart. The BDP did not love Moswaane and I advised him to jump ship and join the UDC. Even those who have been die-hard BDP members are leaving the party. We have already received over 1000 members who are defecting to the UDC with Moswaane,” Boko said.
The UDC also welcomed two BDP councilors Kago Philime and Otsile Moses all from the Francistown West Constituency. Boko said they are expecting more defections to the UDC country wide.
