BCP should stop fence-sitting and back BNF for Leader of Opposition!
By choosing to stay well away from the fray, the BCP is playing very well the cards it has been dealt, or so the party believes.
They are trying to please everyone.
This is bound to backfire. It will not be long before BMD accuses BCP of abdicating their responsibility while, for their part, the BNF will wade in by saying BCP position carelessly gives BMD a leverage the new party does not deserve.
On this instance I have great sympathy for the BNF position.
In a democracy the people rule the roost.
Not only is the BCP strategy flawed, it also goes to show how long the party still has to go before it internalises the basic dynamics of democracy.
The facts are very simple. Of the two contenders for Leader of Opposition ÔÇô Botswana National Front and Botswana Movement for Democracy, only one reached its position through direct election by the people.
And it is the BNF.
As far as I can recall, as part of their policies, both the BMD and the BCP call for direct election of all representatives, including the position of state president.
Why can’t they apply the same rule to the BNF?
Were there no self-serving motives behind all the drama it would be incontestably clear that BNF should be the party deserving to assume the position of Leader of Opposition.
Unfortunately, things are not as easy as that.
The BCP hopes by staying neutral, they will not annoy anybody, especially on the eve of what promises to be a difficult and possibly rowdy round of cooperation talks.
Because they know very well that their pretensions to the throne are not backed by strong democratic credentials, BMD are, for their part, resorting to legal technicalities to get a go at that which is not rightfully theirs.
Politically, this is as wrong as it is disgraceful.
And it risks poisoning the atmosphere even before cooperation talks begin!
From the look of their body language, BMD hope to use the much vaunted position of Leader of Opposition to get a go at Ian Khama. Given their tumultuous relationship with Khama that is understandable. But still it is not sufficient enough a reason.
Shorn of this position the party knows so well that the skirmishes they relish with their nemesis will not come easily.
And ever a party of strategists, they know so well that without a direct hit at the man who wields real power, their star will almost certainly fade.
Hitting Khama to his sixes may make them feel good given how badly he has treated them in the past, but doggedly espousing a claim to the throne will come at a greater cost than they seem to appreciate.
In this fracas, the greatest culprit of all is the BCP.
By treating BNF and BMD as equals (which they so clearly are not) the BCP is inadvertently propping up the BMD, which in itself is wrong.
For all the public euphoria surrounding them we should never forget that BMD has never gone to the polls.
BCP is better advised to refine its strategy and get it more in tune with the voting masses.
A more mature stance for the BCP would be to err on the side of democracy – on the side of the people, as it were.
And between BNF and BMD who can stand up to genuinely and more honestly say “I owe my being to the people who cast their votes on my behalf at a general election last year?”
For all their follies ÔÇô and there are many, on this instance BNF deserves to be treated with some decorum and respect, not least for the sake of the multitudes who voted for the party even as the leadership for their part reprehensibly slid the ship down into an abyss.
It is a fact that at a personal level, because of the base motives of many of their leaders, I’m not a great admirer of the BNF.
But even then we have to accept and concede that as things stand it is a party that has been elected by more people than any other opposition party.
And for that they deserve respect, recognition and acknowledgement.
Fate has dealt BCP a power broker and kingmaker.
It would, however, seem like by opting to stay out of the fray, Dumelang Saleshando and his BCP are opting for an easy route out.
Not only avoiding having to answer awkward questions, they also are trying hard to please everybody ÔÇôbut it will soon prove a vain exercise.
What BCP needs to do is to rise to the occasion and endorse BNF; admittedly a painful decision given how cantankerous the BNF can sometimes prove to be.
For their part, the BMD will in the next three years or so get its chance at the polls to stake its claim at the position of Leader of Opposition ÔÇô or even more.
As of now their quest for that position is a misplaced obsession.
Talk of punching above one’s weight!
