The article, published on social media caught everyone by surprise.
Perhaps as intended it horrified the Botswana Congress Party the most.
Quite predictably, they interpreted it as yet another stab in the back by the so-called ally.
Exactly why Duma Boko penned the letter and then published it remains a mystery.
But too many things have been happening behind the scenes.
The BCP has been nudging its leader Dumelang Saleshando to take Boko head on for the control of the Umbrella for Democratic Change.
Saleshando is an ever cautious or even reluctant politician.
But by the end of last year, his mind was made. He agreed with his party.
The Boko letter has simply added fuel to the embers of the long raging war between the BNF and BCP foot soldiers.
The online war has now reached fever pitch levels.
Each side has honed and crafted its fake news expertise. Each side is trying to outdo the other in manipulating the debate.
In a true Orwellian tradition, the loser is the truth.
Clearly drafted to achieve maximum impact, the letter was dripping with bile, hyperbole and bombast.
It is not yet clear which Boko will turn up at the next elections – supposing he keeps leadership of both the BNF and the UDC.
What is clear though is that he is becoming more extremist, not as a reflection of the mood in the party he leads, for he really does not care about the BNF but only to survive politically.
Like Ian Khama, boko has always been a chest-puffed supporter of power not party.
He is worried he might be getting irrelevant. Thus he is shouting into people’s faces issues that he could do well to talk about behind the scenes.
This is what he wrote recently: I have also met scoundrels along the way; ungrateful people whom I have supported and for whom I have done so much. yet to this day they are unable to express any thanks and gratitude. They rather elect to insult, malign and disparage me. I have witnessed dramatic eruptions of envy, jealousy and betrayal from many I assisted, even rescued from unemployment and unemployability. Some of their attacks almost mortally wounded me. And they still have the gall to come to me repeatedly, with some misplaced sense of entitlement. They expect me to empty myself, exert myself for them; reach out to my networks across the world and mobilise resources for them to gain political office and get employed, only for them to turn around and vilify me and brand me a failure.
There is no prize for guessing who Duma Boko is referring to.
As always it’s all about himself. According to him he is the only one who has been wronged.
He sees himself as the only victim.
And he also sees himself as the sole dispenser of all help to other people.
There is something fundamentally defective with the man.
He likes to deflect attention away from core issues. And he likes to do that by skirting around fundamental debates.
Invariably he never sees the bad things he might have committed – not to the BNF, not to the UDC, not to Ndaba Gaolathe, not Sidney Pilane, not to Lebang Mpotokwane, not to Mothabane Mapahanyane and countless other people who worked so hard including using their own resources to bring UDC close to achieving power.
Not surprisingly, he does not see his role in the fate of many people who are now facing ruin in their lives on account of his ill-advised decision to go to court with no evidence of election fraud.
This is not the way to deepen the values of the “Big Tent” that the UDC was created to be.
More than anybody, Boko should know that he fast-tracked the admission of the BCP into the UDC.
He did so against all advice and against all the rules and against all precedent.
He disregarded all advice of his then trusted ally, Ndaba Gaolathe who he eventually ditched in favour Dumelang Saleshando and the BCP.
The Umbrella for Democratic Change was created with a clear vision to have an entity bigger than the total sum of individual parts.
In the beginning the UDC was a broad church – a true cathedral that housed all interest.
There was no “me, me, me” talk.
At its pinnacle sat a pope-like figure who was assisted by his cardinals. The pope knew so well that he was the first among equals.
That called for honesty, integrity, consensus and concessions. And perhaps most importantly mutual respect. That was then.
It now looks like the cathedral is collapsing into ruins.
UDC still has a chance, not because of the quality of its leadership, but simply on account of the favorable demographics. The population and with it the voter, is getting younger. And much of that youth feel disenchanted.
They are passionately convinced that that they owe nothing to the BDP.
These are people who have no memories of the BDP’s golden age. All they know is a BDP that has presided over a decaying economy and an age of ever-growing official corruption.
The BDP cannot forever be fueled by an ageing cadre class of activists.
The party needs to renew itself. That can only be done not by the ongoing theatrics but by deliberating infusing young blood.
Already it is experiencing a serious leadership dearth as a result of what happened when a whole disgruntled youth broke away and formed the Botswana Movement for democracy.
The BDP will never recover from that calamity.
A recently passed law to effectively outlaw floor-crossing by elected officials without a by-election is at all levels superficial and cosmetic. It might delay the opposition march into power, but not for too long.
Obviously, the ruling party will use this year’s National Census as yet another opportunity to enhance its electoral fortunes and reward some of its favorite politicians who could not make it at the polls.
Boko has presided over a decaying BNF and also a UDC on a slow death. He will not take ownership of that.
Of course the UDC remains a broad church. But then even a broad church cannot have an atheist pope or atheist archbishop.
