Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) Member of Parliament for Kgatleng West, Gilbert Mangole, says he is not shaken by the appearance of former High Court Judge Dr. Unity Dow in the political arena and welcomes her to the political games.
Mangole says he does not feel the pressure from the public declaration of Dow’s membership to Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) and added that it is good to have competition. Mangole did not reveal whether he would stand in the coming general elections in 2014.
He won the Kgatleng West seat in the last elections of 2009.
Mangole said that he is very familiar with the constituency and knows what the people want in the area.
“She has a right to take part in politics and choose a party of her choice but she knows my track record,” said Mangole.
He added that Dow’s move to the BDP is not surprising as there always have been cases of former civil servants joining politics and other politicians moving from one party to another.┬á┬á┬á┬á ┬á
┬á“We encourage each and every citizen to show interest in politics and everyone is entitled to aspire for political office,” he said. “It is premature for me to state my position about the next general elections as I have to discuss the matter with my party BMD as well as my constituents.”
A number of prominent personalities are said to have shown interest in standing for primary elections in Kgatleng West, both for the BDP and the opposition.
Dow is said to consider Kgatleng West as her personal and political home.  
“I would like to see a reasonable number of women contenders and youthful minds in politics,” said Mangole.┬á“Every political party is free to recruit members everywhere and it is an ongoing process.”
“When we recruit new members, we are targeting constituencies we have won, those we lost with small margins and those we did not do well at. We are basically targeting all constituencies,” he explained.
He maintained that the responsibilities of unity cooperation intend to speak out on behalf of all people in this country with a voice characterized by emphasis on the country’s development and empowerment.
