BCP prevaricating on a cliff

Most of the time, our analysis of issues that are deemed of public interest barely scratches the surface!

And that is because we are mainly concerned with scoops – I mean the host of the brothers and sisters of the Fourth Estate! We often fail to plot the scheme as it unfolds but are instead, more often than not, preoccupied with piecemeal gratification.

Let’s take the latest hullabaloo over Botswana Congress Party’s decision to contest Bophirima Ward council seat sans the blessings of its mother body, the Umbrella for Democratic Change.

In this classic case of a stern mother and flirtatious daughter, UDC has fielded its candidate, Mankie Sekete whilst its contracting partner BCP, which by convention, should be rallying behind them, has gone off on a tangent and fielded Peter Mogapi!

This scenario has certainly set the stage for plentiful speculations as to the future of the BCP within the coalition, as well as provided fodder for the host of armchair analysts and critics on social media! But let me divert a little.

Do you remember that press statement of March 11th 2022 that was released by BCP’s Information and publicity secretary Dr. Mpho Pheko after the meeting of the BCP Executive Committee and the Botswana Council of Churches?

Just to be clear, let me reproduce it here word for word.

BOTSWANA CONGRESS PARTY MEETS WITH BOTSWANA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OVER CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW

‘Executing the Botswana Congress Party’s Central Committee mandate, the Party Executive Committee, led by President Dumelang Saleshando, met with the Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) on the 10th of March to discuss the Party’s concerns over the ongoing Commission of Inquiry on the constitutional review.

At this meeting, the BCP executive expressed concerns that the approach used by President Masisi is a unilateral process as it was done without any consultation whatsoever with key stakeholders such as Parliament, Botswana Council of Churches, the Leader of Opposition, the House of Chiefs, the Law society, Organised Labour and Civil Society to mention but a few.

The Party further explained that because the constitution of Botswana is the Republic’s foundational document, the supreme law of the land which define who we are, how we want to be governed, how we wish to co-exist with each other, and our shared values – its review should be the most solemn NATIONAL undertaking, untainted by partisanship and any form of narcissistic instinct. The Executive further explained that this subversion of a national undertaking to serve narrow partisan and personal interests can only produce an unconstitutional product that will call for another review in line with section 86 and 89 of our country’s constitution which sets out the mechanism of constitutional review. The following proposals were made:

1. That the political leadership push for drafting and approval of the Botswana Constitutional Review Act (similar to that of Zambia and Kenya).

2. Both parties (BCC and BCP) to urge HE President M.E.K Masisi to set up a national political education program on constitution development and review. This was predicated on the observed compromised quality of deliberations and proposals from the citizenry during the ongoing consultations.

3. The BCP to continue advising President Masisi to re-consider and ultimately abandon his preferred process (setting up of a Constitutional review commission purportedly under the Commission of Enquiry Act) and settling for a more inclusive, transparent, consultative and constitutional process in line with Democratic norms.

4. For the BCP to re-consider her position on non-participation in the commission and her call to democratic formations such as the civil society, the Law Society, the media and communities to reject the Commission. The BCC warned that the adverse position has the

potential to further polarize the nation as well as deny the nation the opportunity to benefit from the aforementioned pool of intellect.

5. That there is a need for the two organizations to continue meeting to share ideas on issues of national interest.’

Yours Comradely Comrade Mpho M. Pheko

BCP Publicity & Information Secretary Couched at the tail end is a telling statement that faulted BCP’s lack of participation in the ongoing Presidential Commission on the Review of the Republican Constitution.

It is proposal No. 4 and it appeals to “the BCP to re-consider her position on nonparticipation in the commission and her call to democratic formations such as the civil society, the Law Society, the media and communities to reject the Commission. The BCC warned that the adverse position has the potential to further polarize the nation as well as deny the nation the opportunity to benefit from the aforementioned pool of intellect”. It’s very clear from the tone of the press release that the BCP was caught offguard by that observation and since politics is a game of numbers, and you can bet that every political party desperately wants the numbers, BCP had to make a u-turn on the UDC’s hard-line position of not participating in the review of the constitution. But how would BCP abandon the UDC’s hardline position without inviting any adverse repercussions from the coalition leadership, which the party considers as tyrannical and dictatorial?

To test the waters, the BCP decided to field a candidate for the Bophirima ward byelection and verily, this generated the horror show that is now playing out in the public domain between the Botswana National Front (BNF)-led UDC and the BCP. What is patently clear from the BCP engagement with the BCC is that the party has owned up to the folly of its initial position to boycott the constitutional review commission. The commission is busy visiting villages and settlements throughput the country collecting the diverse views of Batswana on how they wish their Constitution to be, but sadly, the opposition political parties are nowhere to be found. Like the BCC cautioned, such a scenario risks polarising the nation further! And who wants to inherit a fractured society? I doubt if the BCP wants that! So, the best option for them is to bite the bullet and bolt out of the coalition with the Members of Parliament that they harvested in the last general election thanks to the UDC. But there is a little tiff here as well. It seems the MPs don’t want to toe the party line. They want any UDC-related decision to be sanctioned by congress, the highest decision-making structure of the party!

As it is, the BCP is caught between a rock and a hard place. Any decision that the Central Committee makes henceforward is bound to seriously alter the make-up of the party. In-fact, I foresee a repeat of 1998 when a good number of BNF MPs that had formed part of a Government delegation to India to appreciate the working conditions in the diamond industry, returned only to break away from the Front and form the Congress.

A new coalition, purportedly comprising, Botswana Patriotic Front, Alliance for Progressives and BCP is already being touted, although the self-exiled BPF Patron, Ian Khama has dismissed any such claims as ‘fake news’. The truth of the matter is that 2024 will change our conception and perception of politics decisively. If, as events of the past weekend have shown, the ruling party pays little respect to the country’s self-proclaimed ‘royal family’, what then will become of us the lesser mortals?