When it was formally announced in December of 2011 that the process of cooperation of opposition parties under the umbrella model has not succeeded due to disagreement over allocation of constituencies, hopes we shattered and many people’s faith in opposition politics were wrecked.
I count myself as one of those who felt betrayed. I was distressed, devastated and felt like I was taken for a ride for I had faith that the Young Turks’ transformational leadership capabilities would usher requisite political change. My disappointment culminated in an essay titled ‘The three wise men who betrayed the nation’ in the Sunday Standard of February 6th 2012. I used the essay to lash out at the leadership of opposition parties for failing to steer clear of slum politics of mudslinging and personal vendettas.
I spat on them for taking their followers and sympathisers for granted especially after many of us have invested considerable goodwill, energy and resources to defend the project against political adversaries. I rounded them off as a bunch of bay-face crooks who have gate-crashed their way to leadership positions. Yet I remained hopeful that the fellows would prove that they were mature and dependable. As time passed by, it became clear that the project has virtually collapsed and relationships have broken down irreparably.
Slim hopes were raised when three political formations regrouped for the second round of cooperation talks. Unfortunately, considerable damage was done following the collapse of the initial talks when the leadership of opposition parties competed in overstating their innocence and throwing mud at each other like people born lacking the senses associated with a fully developed human being.
Thus, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) decided to go it alone convincingly arguing that they needed to prepare for the General Election having expended considerable time and resources in the failed cooperation talks and therefore could not risk losing more quality time. Once the other parties agreed to form an umbrella organization, BCP was presented as a spoiler and traitor that has to be punished at any cost. Initially I appreciated the frustrations and anger over the BCP’s decision to stay out of the umbrella. Whereas many people argued that the BCP’s decision was motivated by selfishness, I expected opposition activists to accept that the project has not worked out as expected and they needed to move on.
However, the silly warring between BCP and Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) activists has since reached unprecedented heights while the undisputed enemy, Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) comfortably watches from a safe distance. Opposition activists, especially the youth have become architects of malice, insults, gossip and lies. They are all out to out-compete each other in mindless smear campaign and display of bitterness. Once in a while some adults or veterans take part in these insidious attacks on each other’s reputation, loathsome innuendos, naked lies and poisonous jealousy that has the potential to ruin any iota of chance for the entire opposition block.
It is bewildering and makes opposition activists look like legendary delinquents who relish basking in the limelight of their abusive tongues. However, many times we are reminded that the pain caused by the crimes of the tongue such as reckless talk and intentional lying is unbearable, destructive and long-lasting. Why do otherwise intelligent, schooled and poised people lose all sense of control when engaging in political debates? We can and will always differ but resorting to insults, calculated lies and crude language shows lack of tolerance and to a larger extent, depicts us as dumb and a bunch of buffoons not capable of handling frustrations. Why would smart people be so dumb?
Why do opposition activists argue amongst themselves about almost everything under the sun? It is puzzling why people who share the same vision of booting the BDP out of government would at the same time engage in activities that boost its lifespan manifold. Small issues are blown out of proportions, thus, pushing opposition parties farther and farther apart. The new generation would be excused to think that opposition parties were formed specifically to tear each other down. While the umbrella option appeared like what is called the low hanging fruit or a risky short term fix, there is no reason why some BCP activists should pour scorn on the umbrella partners, unless they want to be taken for award winning thugs.
The irresistible urge to get carried away, celebrate and amplify problems at the BNF is childish and a violent manifestation of mental masturbation. In like manner, while the umbrella partners have every right to feel aggrieved by the BCP’s decision to stay outside of the umbrella, their activists have no right to insult and malign the BCP as demonic and an impediment to regime change unless they want to confirm what is called inferiority complex. The inclination by some activists who proudly identify themselves as UDC foot soldiers to subject the BCP to endless insult and ridicule serves to confirm the BDP’s mantra that opposition parties are home to renowned nutcases and hooligans.
Their obsession with making the BCP their campaign theme portrays them as bigoted and bitterly jealous. This nonsense that borders on political immaturity has to stop. Unpretentious opposition activists would agree that we have more important battles to fight. We have to obstruct this corrupt military junta from bleeding the economy beyond repair. As genuine patriots we have to sort out our stuttering democracy and rebuild the molested economy. People of substance do not have to behave like dogs fighting over a bitch. Intense disagreements are part of life but generating heated arguments out of differences can only be source of fun for imbeciles.
Presently relationships are poisoned to the core. Yet, I remain hopeful that sanity can prevail if the youth declare a truce ÔÇô a cessation of hostilities. Declaring a truce would be an appreciation that unlike famed idiots, they can sober up and manage their petty squabbles at least up to the day election results are announced.
This will prove to doomsayers that opposition cadres are not as dumb as they appear. Whereas the proposed truce would not solve the problem of mistrust between UDC & BCP, it would at least save the situation. Many wish you the BCP & UDC could work together (not necessarily as one entity) to defeat the real enemy. If they cannot work together, at least they need not fight among themselves & destabilize each other. Election time is no time to feed ill feelings. Romans 14:19 reads, ‘Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification’.
