The noise coming from opposition cooperation talks insists that the whole thing is likely to end up in failure.
Where there was excitement, enthusiasm and optimism among political parties involved, all those have now been replaced by despondence, despair and thinly veiled anger and disgust at one another.
The trajectory of the talks has been disappointing as it has been unpredictable.
As of now, nobody, not even the party leaders, have a clue as to how constituencies are going to be shared. And there is still a more contentious issue of who will ultimately lead the Umbrella party, if it eventually comes to bear.
If the talks collapse, as they seem destined to, it will be a failure on a scale never previously imagined.
The painful reality is that each of the parties that are the motley crew that makes up the Umbrella wants out but none is prepared or bold enough to be the first out for fear of having to be the one to shoulder the blame for the collapse of the project.
But in their different ways, it is clear that each party is already preparing the ground for the eventuality.
The rhythm that was so much a part of the process ahead of the talks is no longer there.
In its place has been born a totally new political reality that like the ones before, the next elections will be contested by many, fragmented and disparate opposition political parties.
The BCP youth wants Leader of Opposition replaced.
He is too soft for their liking. The more uncharitable among them are unkind enough to even suspect he is about to retrace his steps back to the ruling party.
They may not be talking on behalf of the main party branch, but behind the scenes the BCP youth are not short of sympathizers.
For his part, the Leader of Opposition has long stopped calling the regular media briefs which were so much a trade mark of his leadership. It’s clear the bond is no longer as tight as it used to be.
It may well be that their parliamentary caucus meetings continue as they used to, but the cracks are there for all to see.
At a general membership level, mistrust has set in as has cannibalistic dislike for one another.
All the public disquiet has a history to it. It tells us that we are back to square one.
It is a reality no opposition leader wants to talk about. It is also a reality that cannot be postponed indefinitely.
While at the beginning of the talks the collective opposition looked and behaved like an alternative government, the same can no longer be said based on what has been happening over the last few weeks.
May be we had set the bar of expectation too high when we put so much trust on so ordinary a group of politicians.
President Ian Khama once said the opposition cooperation project was impossible because too many of those involved in it were well known power mongers.
He must, at a personal level, be feeling thoroughly vindicated.
Self preservation has now replaced collective unity of purpose.
The days when Duma Boko, Gomolemo Motswaledi and Dumelang Salkeshando used to exchange shirts feel like a century ago.
Unity talks stumble on, but they are no longer a priority for anyone of the leaders.
Questions from either the media or the public on the prospects of the Umbrella are shrugged off as distractive nuisance best left to Lebang Mpotokwane and Mothabane Maphanyane ÔÇô the convenors of the talks.
Not only are the party leaders cautious in their mention of the Umbrella, it also is very clear that all of them are preparing the public for the fast coming collapse of the talks.
Instead of plainly stating that they are about to disengage their respective parties from the talks, each leader has resorted to speaking in tongues, deliberately staying clear from being seen to be the one derailing what was initially called a national agenda.
The BCP says it is going on a retreat to reassess the whole project. BMD and to a lesser extent, the BNF, can only say they remain committed to cooperation.
Even the bold, fast-talking Duma Boko, it seems, cannot amass enough guts to tell the public what a wasted opportunity the talks have once again started to degenerate into.
All the public spin that cooperation talks are well on course run tandem to what the leaders say in private that the sooner the talks are called off the better for everyone involved.
All the public posturing would easily be laughed out as patently dishonest were it not for the fact that false as they are, in a very vague way, such arguments still resonate with that which not so long ago was the embodiment of what was conceivably the only way to save Botswana from sliding down an abyss.
At another pole, the BDP is on the ascendance.
Forget about Botsalo Ntuane’s language of appeasement.
In more ways than one, things are going the BDP way.
Just the other night the party managed to raise a million pula at a gala dinner.
The money will be splashed in next year’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations as the party prepares to win yet another round of general elections.
Personally, I would be hard pressed to bet my money on opposition unity.
I hope I am wrong.
