BMD decides fate of estranged youth congress
Botswana Movement for Democratic Change (BMD) National Executive Committee is expected to decide on its postponed youth league elective congress either today or tomorrow.
The elective congress was scheduled to be held this weekend in Ramotswa. The BMDYL NEC held a meeting this past Saturday to discuss among others the state of preparedness to deliver the biennial National Congress.
According to a statement signed by BMDYL President Phenyo Segokgo and his Secretary General Tolerance Itumeleng, the meeting resolved that the 3rd biennial National Congress be deferred to a later date yet to be determined in conjunction with the NEC of the party.
The postponement was triggered by many factors, among them that the BMDYL leadership hadn’t been successful in mobilising at least half the resources needed to deliver a seamless congress; the Secretariat of the BMDYL NEC has not received minutes and delegation list from Branches thus striking the fear of not being able to reach the 29 Constituencies threshold necessary for the Congress to form a quorum.
Further, the NEC is said to be inundated with complaints of flawed Branch Congresses which will see most branches bringing parallel delegations to the Congress - a precedence that must not be allowed to see the light of day.
In an interview with The Midweek Sun yesterday (Tuesday) BMD Secretary General, Gilbert Mangole stated that the youth league working committee was due to report to the party NEC. He said after the deliberations that were set for last night, then the NEC would determine whether to endorse the postponement or otherwise.
“We are expecting the working committee to brief the party leadership. We could listen to all the issues that they have to raise that prompted the decision. We respect them as an autonomous body of the party but we feel where there is need for us to intervene and give guidance we would do so”, explained Mangole adding that this is why they have summoned the working committee to make a presentation, after which they would see which way to go.The ineffectiveness of the current BMD youth leadership has been blamed by some party members for this mess.
The current committee is said to have failed to keep alive youth structures in various constituencies resulting in the party failing to mobilise all constituencies. BMDYL leadership has however dismissed these claims. Segokgo has reiterated that as the BMDYL NEC they would do everything in their power to avert a Constitutional crisis by employing more efforts in ensuring compliance with guidelines as they are in the Constitution.