Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
10 July 2009
editorial
We have all been seized with the bitter feuds that have gripped the ruling Botswana Democratic Party and paid little attention to the small matter of a disintegrating official opposition.
When the BDP is in trouble, we should all sit up and pay attention as this is the party that runs government. But we cannot ignore the official opposition even if that party happens to be the perennially suicidal Botswana National Front (BNF). What passes as the second largest and strongest opposition party in Botswana is a party that is unparalleled for its addiction to disorder and shooting itself in the head.
It is not news anymore to talk about BNF crisis because the party has over the years defined itself as the very epitome of crisis. No one except the crisis sedated BNF insiders can tell the difference between a crisis, political mayhem and BNF.At the risk of being accused of talking about trivia (that is the BNF ) when the country burns, we have decided to devote this space to the sorry apology we have as the official opposition.
We are aware of the problems in the ruling BDP and how it threatens our democracy; or the real threat of overzealous state agents taking the law into their hands with impunity.
But we have decided to address an irrelevant and impotent political body.
We talk about the BNF not because we mourn its demise but merely to proffer counsel on how the undertakers that have assumed the party leadership should perform the last rites on this political edifice. The current BNF leaders have through their own actions precipitated the implosion of the party like never before and many will be happy to see the front finally laid to rest.
The BNF has suffered enough. We have all witnessed its many foibles and serial goofs before it fell into this political coma.
It has got to a point that it is not funny anymore.How else can one explain that with just less than three months before the elections, the BNF is still firing parliamentary candidates willy-nilly? The expulsion of Gaborone West South MP, Robert Molefhabangwe has shown the dearth of leadership and management in this organisation.
How do you fire an MP on the doorstep of a voting booth? If Molefhabangwe had been uncooperative as the leadership alleges, why not take disciplinary action against him in good time?
We want to tell the BNF that even lethargic and uninspiring leaders have a duty to impose disciplinary sanctions on erring members but that should be done in a good time.
With just about two months before the elections, the BNF is still tussling with some of its parliamentary candidates in the courts! With just about two months before the elections, voters in some constituencies are still in the dark on who the party's candidates will be in the coming general election! The BNF is now a distraction and the sooner the current lot that torment it as its leaders realise this the better.
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