Botswana Democratic Party Chairman, Daniel Kwelagobe, and the party Central Committee have struck a compromise on the controversy surrounding Kwelagobe’s funding when on party assignments.
The party has undertaken to resume funding all official trips undertaken by Kwelagobe, without qualification. Kwelagobe’s supporters have in turn agreed to stop the “support DK Kwelagobe’s fight for Democracy Fund” advert which started running in last week’s edition of the Sunday Standard.
One of Kwelagobe’s supporters, Sydney Pilane, stated that, “we have stopped the fundraising because it is no longer required. I have, of course, asked the Party Chairman to let me know if he should again be denied Party funding, for then we will resume the fundraising effort so that the Party Chairman is able to continue doing Party work during an election year. We thank the scores of people who offered financial support to the Party Chairman.”
The compromise comes a few days after BDP Secretary General, Jacob Nkate, issued a press statement that “we have noted the recent advert in the Sunday Standard about the establishment of a fund purportedly to support Hon Kwelagobe. The import of the name of the fund is to suggest that in the BDP, democracy is under attack. This could not be further from the truth. If anyone wants to raise funds for Hon Kwelagobe, or anyone else for that matter, they are free to do so without imputing improper motive against the Party.”
