The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) was founded in November 2012 as a coalition of opposition political parties uniting against Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) perceived misrule and general running of the country to the ground. Its initial contracting members were the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), Botswana National Front (BNF) and the Botswana Peoples’ Party (BPP). At the time the other opposition political party namely, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), couldn’t agree to be part of the coalition.
The driving interest among these contracting parties was to:
Secure a governing majority for opposition political parties
Create a credible alternative government for all Batswana especially those who have been marginalized by policies of the ruling BDP
Consolidate and win electoral trust, support and maximize electoral gains in the 2014 national election in order to achieve regime change.
To ensure the success of this coalition the contracting parties entered into a memorandum of understanding which would pave way to an equitable and just partnership. This also set the ground for conditions for engagement by the parties. In validating this approach scholars such as Ivan Doherty (2004) and the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights (2015) maintain that successful political party coalitions are grounded on the following principles:
Mutual benefit to all contracting parties
Mutual respect and understanding with each contracting partner demonstrating a willingness and readiness to meet the other half way even on contentious issues
A sense of equal partnership regardless of contracting members’ membership size. Partnership does not mean that all responsibilities and positions are divided evenly within the coalition, but that each grouping is respected for the unique attributes it brings to the coalition and has an equitable and fair say in how decisions are made and benefits distributed.
From this premise, it is only logical then that in the end contracting parties to a coalition must submit their individual core policy principles on critical tenets of coalition for adjudication. Following this, the final coalition agreement which will then be signed by all contracting members will include each contracting party’s core policy principles that have been arrived at through “trade-offs” between the parties.
Therefore, it is only judicious and rational that when the Botswana Congress Party entered into the UDC coalition it too without exception signed an agreement as a means of committing itself to working within the framework set out for the UDC successful coalition.
So for politicians of the caliber and standing of Comrades Mangole and Advocate Pilane to argue that it is not essential for the BCP as a contracting member of the UDC to sign an agreement binding it to work within the UDC framework is not only baffling but downright irrational to some of us. I humbly request that the duo explain this seemingly preposterous position to Batswana.
This view by Comrades Mangole and Advocate Pilane goes against tried and tested theories of successful political party coalitions as one of the covenants of successful political party coalition theories is “all or nothing” negotiation strategy – where “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
In view of this, the question that immediately begs an answer is; what then regulates BCP’s participation in the UDC coalition? And haste post to this will be; what then stops the BCP from disengaging from the UDC coalition immediately after the 2019 elections ÔÇô that is if regime change has been achieved? These become pertinent questions if BCP or any other “partner” enters the coalition without a “contract of agreement” that regulates its operations and conduct.
In order to promote transparency and mitigate against varying interpretations or misunderstanding it is advisable that after all contracting parties to the UDC coalition framework have signed the coalition agreement the agreement be made public just as the constitution has been.
Not only will publicizing of the signed coalition agreement lead to buy-in and understanding of the terms of agreement by the grassroots; it will also ensure that party grassroots constantly audit UDC leadership on adherence to the terms.
*David Keagakwa writes in his personal capacity as an academic
