There is no doubt that opposition parties are gaining popularity in Botswana, what with the talk of opposition co-operation for the electoral year of 2014 looming. The arrival of the ruling party’s splinter party, BMD, to the opposition ranks also increased people’s interests in the other side of the fence.
There are some in the public who are calling for change to a state that has been ruled by one party for well over 40 years.
The real question then is should the opposition take over power in 2014 how different will their government and it’s policies be compared to the current one? Will they be addressing prevalent social issues with a different perspective or are they to adopt the ones they found in use.
Our opposition has been accused of constantly critising the government as if it was their only policy while, in most cases, they had no suggestions to the way forward.
While criticism of the government abounds from our opposition and spats over strategy are discussed and disseminated weekly in newspapers (this one not excluded), a comprehensive platform of the issues them selves, and how they would separate themselves from the government, has yet to be shown on many issues.
With elections getting closer, it’s imperative to the state of the national debate to raise these issues. Through refinement and discussion, rather than blanket criticism, both the opposition party and the government would be better able to express opinions and communicate these to the people, allowing voters to make informed choices.
Dr Thapelo Otlogetswe, who writes a column called, ‘the Linguist Chair’ in our sister publication, The Telegraph, posed a question in his recent article,’what different policies do the opposition parties wish to deliver once they are voted into power?”
His main contention was that if opposition party politics were to be interrogated further, we were likely to find minimum differences between their opinions and that of the government, especially when addressing social problems.
“The current mood in the country may indeed be in favour of the opposition parties ÔÇô but opposition parties need to go beyond being critics. They need to clearly state their position on many issues of national interest. Currently, their criticism rings louder than their policies and that’s no base on which to form a government,” said Otlogetswe.
This past week, four of the major opposition parties of the country we invited to speak on a local radio station to give the opinions of their party on the recent court ruling involving the rights of the Basarwa. While many striking and eloquent opinions were given, the most starkly different from the government came from the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), which criticized the attorney general’s handling of the issue and the government’s paternalism towards the Basarwa.
Otlogetswe warned that by avoiding to publicly state their positions on issues of prevailing social issues, such as that of abortion, homosexuality and prostitution, the opposition parties are choosing to be on the safe side as these are sensitive topics that could cost them voters.
He said that the issues might not have reached a level where they are a major problem for the society thus not much attention is focused on them.
We think its time for a national debate on whether Botswana should rethink its policy regarding various topics that we will be addressing on a weekly basis.
