DAMAGE CONTROL
President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi is expected to take decisive action to ensure that those responsible for the disruptions and significant distress caused during the first round of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) primary elections will be held accountable.
The BDP has set aside the past and next weekend for their primary elections, with the first round over the weekend covering 35 constituencies. The turmoil experienced was the most severe in the party's history since its formation and the introduction of the current primary election process, which replaced the previous system overseen by the Committee of 18.
The disruptions caused division among the Democrats themselves with some calling for the scalp of the Secretary General, Kavis Kario, accusing him of failing to rise to the occasion when needed the most.
The BDP’s highest decision-making body, the Central Committee, met on Wednesday, just three days before the primary elections, and the committee was informed by the Executive Secretary and the Executive Secretariat that everything was in order.
Four party units are involved in the primary elections: Electoral Board (EC), the Political Education, Election Committee (PEEC) and the Secretariat, composed of the Secretary General and the Executive Secretary (ES).
General observations from both the Democrats and political observers indicate that the Secretary General is seen as incompetent. They say this is evidenced by the late arrival of ballot papers in all constituencies, including
Gaborone Central, which resulted in many being disenfranchised across the constituencies.
The only positive aspect for which the Secretariat is credited is their bold decision to promptly send election materials to distant locations like Gantsi, Shakawe, Tsabong, and North West upon receiving them from the printers.
According to standard practices and expectations, the Executive Secretariat reports to the Secretary General. Based on these sources, it is argued that the PEEC can be exonerated in this case because it effectively played its part by handing over responsibilities to the EC, which produced the Voters Roll and ensured the availability of ballot papers.
This is where many questions arise, leading to who is responsible for printing the ballot papers, being the office of the executive secretary. Having not been made aware that all was not in place, President Masisi sanctioned for a well publicised and circulated media advisory indicating he will cast his vote at Sau cell in Moshupa for the Moshupa–Manyana constituency and Mosielele Primary School where he was supposed to cast his vote at 9am.
That was never to be the case because he was alerted that his wish and or intention would not happen because the Moshupa ballot papers were still to be delivered in the constituency.
It is clear that since the Wednesday’s Central Committee meeting, nobody had bothered to brief Masisi on the latest developments, despite knowing that all was not well. It is said that this is despite the fact that on Friday evening the Democrats who had been assigned to travel to different destinations to conduct the election, were still gathering in the late hour to collect elections material at the party headquarters, Tsholetsa house.
The blackout on information continued to the next morning on Saturday to around 7am at which time the ballot papers had allegedly not yet left Tsholetsa, but still there were no election officers at some of the polling stations including where President Masisi was to cast his vote. Nobody appeared ready to take ownership or responsibility for the mess.
It is the conviction of the party members that the Party Secretariat led by either the Executive Secretary or the Secretary General, ought to have been briefing the President. Political observers therefore say they expect President Masisi to not just act, but be seen to be putting his foot down. The observers do not think this was an act of sabotage but rather a classical case of people who do not just understand project management.
The observers say the most blatant flop was the lack of printing of and or printing late of the ballot papers which did not carry names of anyone and could have long been prepared.
Records show that BDP has over 640 000 people in the voters rolls, and what happened was nothing but a lapse in management. The secretariat went to bed on Friday knowing that ballot papers had not been printed while the voting was to start at 7am the following day. The Secretary General did not take any action despite the fact that it is common knowledge that when crisis like this one arises, the only way to manage the situation would have been to convene a meeting between President Masisi and Secretary General Kavis Kario so as to come up with a solution.
BDP Communications officer Banks Kentse acknowledged that they did have challenges as a party over the weekend.
"We have owned up to them and have had serious learnings on project management and timelines on preparations. We believe that this coming weekend will be smoother but we do need a serious introspection internally."
Kario himself said although he fully appreciates the magnitude of the problems they encountered, he would not want to dwell on finger-pointing, but rather focus on regrouping to map the better way forward.
The BDP has set aside the past and next weekend for their primary elections, with the first round over the weekend covering 35 constituencies. The turmoil experienced was the most severe in the party's history since its formation and the introduction of the current primary election process, which replaced the previous system overseen by the Committee of 18.
The disruptions caused division among the Democrats themselves with some calling for the scalp of the Secretary General, Kavis Kario, accusing him of failing to rise to the occasion when needed the most.
The BDP’s highest decision-making body, the Central Committee, met on Wednesday, just three days before the primary elections, and the committee was informed by the Executive Secretary and the Executive Secretariat that everything was in order.
Four party units are involved in the primary elections: Electoral Board (EC), the Political Education, Election Committee (PEEC) and the Secretariat, composed of the Secretary General and the Executive Secretary (ES).
General observations from both the Democrats and political observers indicate that the Secretary General is seen as incompetent. They say this is evidenced by the late arrival of ballot papers in all constituencies, including
Gaborone Central, which resulted in many being disenfranchised across the constituencies.
The only positive aspect for which the Secretariat is credited is their bold decision to promptly send election materials to distant locations like Gantsi, Shakawe, Tsabong, and North West upon receiving them from the printers.
According to standard practices and expectations, the Executive Secretariat reports to the Secretary General. Based on these sources, it is argued that the PEEC can be exonerated in this case because it effectively played its part by handing over responsibilities to the EC, which produced the Voters Roll and ensured the availability of ballot papers.
This is where many questions arise, leading to who is responsible for printing the ballot papers, being the office of the executive secretary. Having not been made aware that all was not in place, President Masisi sanctioned for a well publicised and circulated media advisory indicating he will cast his vote at Sau cell in Moshupa for the Moshupa–Manyana constituency and Mosielele Primary School where he was supposed to cast his vote at 9am.
That was never to be the case because he was alerted that his wish and or intention would not happen because the Moshupa ballot papers were still to be delivered in the constituency.
It is clear that since the Wednesday’s Central Committee meeting, nobody had bothered to brief Masisi on the latest developments, despite knowing that all was not well. It is said that this is despite the fact that on Friday evening the Democrats who had been assigned to travel to different destinations to conduct the election, were still gathering in the late hour to collect elections material at the party headquarters, Tsholetsa house.
The blackout on information continued to the next morning on Saturday to around 7am at which time the ballot papers had allegedly not yet left Tsholetsa, but still there were no election officers at some of the polling stations including where President Masisi was to cast his vote. Nobody appeared ready to take ownership or responsibility for the mess.
It is the conviction of the party members that the Party Secretariat led by either the Executive Secretary or the Secretary General, ought to have been briefing the President. Political observers therefore say they expect President Masisi to not just act, but be seen to be putting his foot down. The observers do not think this was an act of sabotage but rather a classical case of people who do not just understand project management.
The observers say the most blatant flop was the lack of printing of and or printing late of the ballot papers which did not carry names of anyone and could have long been prepared.
Records show that BDP has over 640 000 people in the voters rolls, and what happened was nothing but a lapse in management. The secretariat went to bed on Friday knowing that ballot papers had not been printed while the voting was to start at 7am the following day. The Secretary General did not take any action despite the fact that it is common knowledge that when crisis like this one arises, the only way to manage the situation would have been to convene a meeting between President Masisi and Secretary General Kavis Kario so as to come up with a solution.
BDP Communications officer Banks Kentse acknowledged that they did have challenges as a party over the weekend.
"We have owned up to them and have had serious learnings on project management and timelines on preparations. We believe that this coming weekend will be smoother but we do need a serious introspection internally."
Kario himself said although he fully appreciates the magnitude of the problems they encountered, he would not want to dwell on finger-pointing, but rather focus on regrouping to map the better way forward.
