BDP has nothing against Nasha

Margret Nasha is still a member of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) despite being shunned from the Speaker of the National Assembly position.

Commenting on the sidelines of the appointment of Gladys Kokorwe as the new Speaker, party spokesperson Mpho Balopi said the BDP has nothing against Nasha. “The decision to elect Kokorwe was made by majority and that is how they acted,” he said adding that they were never worried that Nasha would be voted as Speaker by members of the BDP.

He said the party had an official caucus where they collectively made the decisions on their preferences for Speaker of the National Assembly. “Even when Nasha was voted as Speaker the same procedure was used,” said the Secretary General. Balopi refuted allegations that the BDP has problems with Nasha or her autobiography, ‘Madam Speaker Sir.’ “It is amazing that people align the book to the fact that she was not reelected as Speaker.” He added that the book is just a reflection of what she was doing and the people that she worked with. “I thought she wrote the book as memoirs of people she worked with.

The BDP never hated the book. It is just people’s perception that we did.” He said despite everything that has transpired Nasha is still a member of the BDP. Not voting her in, he said, does not indicate that there was an issue, it was just that they needed someone else to take over the position of Speaker. “To say that we should vote her in just to complete what she began will just be suffocating democracy,” he said.

However Botswana Federation of Public Sector Union (BOFEPUSU) Labour Secretary Johnson Motshwarakgole felt Nasha was shunned by the BDP due to the hatred they have towards her. Motshwarakgole feels that the seat should have never been given to Kokorwe. He said the BDP has taken out a good Speaker who performed exceptionally and deserved to be reelected. “Kokorwe has large shoes to fill as she has to shine above Nasha’s bright record.”