Over the past couple of weeks I looked into the performance of various parties in relation to 2014 General elections. In doing so, I somehow failed to offer my take on the BCP. To be fair on the party I thought I should revisit the subject and offer my voice on the subject. This instalment therefore offers my own insights on what went wrong for the BCP.
That the BCP performed dismally in the 11th parliamentary and council election last October is an understatement. The party perfomed horribly, obtaining a mere 3 parliamentary seats. If I am not wrong at council level they could only manage 56 or so seats, meaning that across the entire country they were able to get roughly 1 councillor per constituency. This was an awful showing by the party, which for too long sold itself as an alternative to the ruling BDP.
Consider this; BCP was the only party that set itself a target (29), which is enough to take over power from the BDP. Like any other organisation, setting a target by the BCP was necessary in that it would, among others, assist in keeping track on progress being made or lack thereof. In case the party did well, goal setting ÔÇô at least one informed by practical realities, would prove vital for continuity of the party into the future. Equally should the party fail to achieve their set targets, they would be able to rectify their mistakes and come out strong next time around. That is the good thing about setting targets, it helps set pointers!
Sadly for the BCP, 2014 elections were much more complex than a mere mathematical formulation of 29 winnable constituencies they embarked upon. Get me right, I am not in any way suggesting that establishing goals is anything wrong. The point is setting goals requires a higher level of sophistication, which proved lacking within the BCP, if the outcome of 2014 elections are anything to go by. I remember asking one colleague who is also a senior ranking member of the BCP what informed their set target and the answer I got from him was too pedestrian: they were the fastest growing party and, therefore, 29 was a practical reality. Talk of living in a dreamland.
Back to earth, taking power from the BDP was never just going to be about setting uninformed targets. It required more than just wishful thinking. For starters the BDP, as an incumbent party, had unfettered access to key resources necessary to win elections, including state resources. And indeed, the BDP abused such resources in an effort to take its message across the breath and width of this country. The opposition, including the BCP, was left crying foul as a result of such misuse on the part of those in charge of our republic. But the UDC, unlike the BCP, was able to compensate for lack of access to state resources in an ingenious way. Unity became the rallying point for UDC and, indeed, they found themselves hitting exactly where the public mood was ÔÇô and these elections were about change.
The BCP, on the other hand, opted for a lone ranger option. They did not see the efficacy of combined strength with other opposition parties in an effort to bring to an end almost 50 years of the BDP rule. In short, the BCP missed in a big way the yearning for change by multitudes of Batswana. That historical mistake proved the beginning of the downfall of the BCP.
The messaging, equally, lacked attraction. Yes, I have heard many die-hard BCP supporters trying to make us believe they had solid proposals during 2014 election campaigns. To me it sounds like talking to themselves because Batswana, especially those in towns failed to buy into their messages. At the same time, their messages came across more as kneejerk as opposed to considered ones. Take, for example, their famous selling point ÔÇô ‘bring back our jobs’ ÔÇô a spontaneous reaction that was quickly adopted as quickly as Boko Haram had abducted school girls in Nigeria! It was never going to be a good marketing strategy because it failed to respond to changing world paradigm.
Let us be honest, we are not living in the 1960s where the prevailing selling point in explaining failure of developing countries was understood better from the centre-periphery dichotomy. In here, advanced economies were accused of taking away resources from poor countries and, hence the prevailing state of underdevelopment in the south. Things have since changed. Globalisation has brought down historical barriers that kept developing countries, especially in Africa from participating meaningfully in global trade. The current template suggests that if countries adopt creative strategies such as investment in quality education they stand a better chance of attracting global dominant companies and, therefore, be able to create jobs. Costa Rica, for example, invested in skill development and sooner than later it managed to get Microsoft and other big companies setting up within its borders. Emphasis now, especially for successful economies, is on building skill base with knowledge that jobs will follow! Sadly, BCP sounded more 60s than contemporary in their messaging.
But the biggest elephant in the BCP’s room proved to be its leader. To be frank, leadership is a complex and often misunderstood phenomena. In the case of the BCP, when challenges visited the party, the leader proved nowhere to be found. Take, for example, the case of Unity talks or what is commonly referred to as Umbrella 1.
When the going got tougher, BCP leadership opted to go back and consult membership. They expected membership, or to be frank followership, to take charge of such a delicate process. Leadership wanted followers to provide direction! Unless I am mistaken, leaders are there for a purpose ÔÇô they give guidance. They provide direction. Leadership charts the way forward. But in the case of BCP and 2014 elections, the leadership opted to abscond from their responsibility. They literally absolved themselves from taking the right decisions in the best interest of the party and Batswana in general. And that decision was meant to be simple: being where the heartbeat of Batswana was leading up to 2014 elections.
*Dr Molefhe teaches Public Administration at the University of Botswana
