Controversy stalks BDP primaries

Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leadership might get more than what they have anticipated for the party’s primary elections, following what democrats have labelled a bogus registration exercise.

The registration process in preparation for Bulela-Ditswe, which closed on Sunday 19th May 2024, has caused more rifts among party members, both foot soldiers and candidates. The membership registration drive was supposed to last for two weeks from 23rd of April 2024, following the release of the registration books. The books were released after the announcement of candidates who have been cleared to contest for both council and parliamentary seats by the central committee.

The BDP is now at the stage of data capturing of the registered members which membership cards will be printed, issued and voters' rolls for the 61 constituencies prepared.

Investigations by Botswana Guardian has uncovered information that there has been a lot of trafficking by candidates and registration of opposition members to help some of the aspiring candidates to win the primaries. Also uncovered is that while registration was done by Political Education and Elections Committee (PEEC) deployees, some of the branch members highjacked the process by ordering who should and should not be registered with the aim of having their preferred candidates to register more people.

While the BDP Secretary General, Kavis Kario has claimed that PEEC deployees were not doing the actual registration but were deployed for technical support, Botswana Guardian can with authority confirm that from the registration points it visited in the past two weeks, registration was done by the PEEC deployees while the Cells/Ward Secretaries would only append their signatures in the registration books.

Insiders have also dismissed the letter authored by Deputy Secretary, Lemogang Kwape on the 16th of April 2024, where he requested Regional Committees to suggest two (2) names of democrats in good standing from each of the 61 branches who will oversee registration of new members in “their branches.” Insiders reveal that in fact, such names were used by PEEC to deploy people to other branches and not their own. The tedious process has resulted in some of the registration points having called the police to calm the situation as tempers were flying high, among the members with others threatening to disrupt the registration.

Sources within the party, who spoke to this publication stated that some of the Wards and Branch members, especially secretaries, were registering members under the cover of darkness with the PEEC in their places of abode. PEEC deployees are sent to far away constituencies from theirs to undertake the process.

“Some of the branch members especially secretaries register members during the day in their notebooks then at night they visit the PEEC deployees where they are lodging and transfer the names to the party’s registration books. Even the P2.00 for registration and P5.00 for renewals are paid by the branches preferred candidates through the branch. This has opened a room for trafficking and registering opposition members. In most instances the opposition members are registered to help such candidates to win primary elections (in Setswana called go tlodisa molatswana),” said an insider.

A worry within the party is that the registering of opposition members for the sole purpose of winning primaries presents a dangerous situation for the BDP going into the general election. Opposition members are said to always be willing to participate in the BDP primaries with the aim of ushering in the ruling party’s weakest candidates. This publication has also established during the registration that some candidates especially in urban areas have been given plot numbers for outsiders who are trafficked into their wards and constituencies.

“We find ourselves in this fraudulent process because of the shortsightedness of the central committee. The entire thing got messed up when the central committee got involved in the vetting process of candidates. Now we have some shady characters that we know as branch committees and how they could easily pollute the entire election process.

Now such shady characters are in the mix and dragging the party into a messy situation. The central committee could have allowed branches to deal with the matter. Now they have made it worse by roping in PEEC which we all know how it operate,” said one of the Gaborone constituencies branch Chairpersons. It is feared that most of the candidates who are not favourites to branch committees and PEEC will lose the elections in the final voters' roll which is used for voting.

According to insiders, this is where some names will be removed or added, a situation that transpired during the BDP 2019 primary elections in constituencies that the BDP enjoyed incumbency.

BDP Secretary General, Kavis Kario in an interview, insisted that the membership registration in the BDP was conducted by ward and branch secretaries and will forever remain so because it is an inviolable directive of the Constitution of the BDP. He stated that the presence of PEEC in registration process is often to provide technical guidance and to ensure compliance to procedures as the appropriate and duly designated sub-committee of the Central Committee.

According to Kario, the Central Committee has not received any complaint regarding the arrangement and they believe that it is not only because it is common practice but also that it effectively assists members and party structures alike to ensure smooth conduct of membership registration.

“Allegations of voter trafficking would be misplaced and unfounded because membership registers are verified by members of the specific Party organ (branch or ward) at general and open meetings of that organ and the register is kept by the branch secretary for further or necessary scrutiny. It therefore would be astonishing to imagine that any other person could know the members of any one branch better than the branch members and their secretary.'