The main opposition Botswana Congress Party (BCP) has vowed to keep the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) government under immense scrutiny, to deliver only a one term government. Addressing a press conference in Gaborone on Thursday, the BCP politburo said the UDC must come out of comfort zone and feel the reality of being in government. BCP acting president, Taolo Lucas said they have done fairly well so far in parliament regarding holding the government accountable, adding that they will bring motions or bills that bring change.
Lucas said UDC government promised to be inclusive but that is not the case as BCP was not consulted on many issues including nomination of councilors and lifting ban on importation of vegetables etc. “We expected a lot of changes from the UDC compared to Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). We expected that nomination of Specially Elected Members of Parliament (SEMPs) would be done looking at proportion of parties in Parliament. UDC is disappointing and that is very bad,” said Lucas.
Lucas noted that BCP will keep the government in check through the Parliamentary Committees, especially those led by their members. He is confident that BCP is doing very well as the main opposition party, adding that it is readying itself to be an alternative government and take over from the UDC during the 2029 general election.
Lucas also said the UDC did not comprehensively account on the achievements of the 100 days target that was brought forward by president Advocate Duma Boko. He said the 100 days target was broad and difficult to measure but a number of targets were not achieved while some of goals achieved are as a result of pressure put on government by BCP and Batswana at large.
Meanwhile, Opposition Whip in Parliament Caterpillar Hikuama said BCP will ensure that the rule of law and democracy continue to be abided to by new government. He said there is change that must be appreciated under the UDC government because there is freedom enjoyed by Batswana with regards to petitions or peaceful demonstrations by the citizens. In addition, Hikuama said another appreciation to the government is that the Leader of Opposition (LOO) in Botswana Parliament has been assigned Private Secretary for the first time in the history of Botswana. He said BCP will continue to mount pressure on the government to ensure that there is proper governance across all aspects of government business.
Forensic Audit
For his part, BCP Secretary General (SG) Goretetse Kekgonegile said the forensic audit procurement of government departments is not transparent as it was done on direct appointment with the presidency involved on the process.
He said the tendency of direct appointment was major concern under the past BDP regime but it becoming a norm to the new UDC government. “There is no transparency in this forensic audit. We don’t know whether it is a kickback to the company that is engaged. We are having other big projects coming and we are not hearing any transparency in terms of bidding and allocation of projects. We anticipate that there is going to be direct appointments,” said Kekgonegile.
Kekgonegile also said his other major concern is that UDC government doesn’t take Parliament more serious as compared to the previous BDP administration. He said this is evidenced by consistent absence of Cabinet Ministers whereby 20 ministers could be missing either engaged on international travel or addressing Kgotla meetings while Parliament is sitting.