The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has torn open a rift within the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) blaming its President advocate Duma Boko for holding the political project ransom.
This emerges after the BCP and the Botswana National Front (BNF) could not agree on one candidate to be fielded to represent the UDC for the Bophirima ward by-election.
The party says: “The Central Committee’s decision on Bophirima Ward is a turning point in the BCP’s determination to fight for a constitutional order, good governance, internal democracy and the very character and essence of the UDC.”
The party has come down hard on Duma Boko‘s leadership style at the UDC.
“The Party has does not respect its own constitution. The UDC has operated under the transitional clause since 2010. Comrade Boko has stood on the way of all efforts to convene the inaugural UDC Congress. We are worried that the UDC President speaks about the UDC constitution in ways that suggest it was a fraud from the beginning, that it was never intended to be respected. We know better,” the party says in a hard hitting press statement.
The BCP says Boko’s position is informed by the “often-repeated illusion that the BNF is the natural leader of the UDC.”
“The reality is that Comrade Boko is threatened by the UDC Constitution and Conference because these will put to an end to the lawlessness that allows him to make decisions alone and threaten his position as President of the UDC,” the BCP statement says.
The BCP claims the UDC under Boko is undemocratic for failure to respect the constitution and the right of members to elect their own leaders.
“On its current trajectory, the UDC is not offering a value proposition to Batswana. Nor is it engaged with the issues that trouble Batswana. It operates like a movement that wants power on the back of the deficiencies of the ruling party rather than the strength of its offering. The UDC is distracted from making its case by a leader who is concerned with subverting the party constitution and democracy to hold onto power,” the statement says.
