Pushed by Mbulawa’s relocation to Maun East
MOLEBI OBONYE
editors@thepatriot.co.bw
Former Member of Parliament for Maun East, Konstantinos Markus has retired from active politics and will not be standing for any elections as he believes his time is up. Markus who is a member of Botswana Democratic Party started his political journey in 2013 and won the 2014 elections beating Goretetse Kekgonegile of Umbrella for Democratic Change. However he later lost to Kekgonegile by 7739 in 2019 to 7112 during the 2019 elections.
He said that he believes at his 60 years age it is time to leave elections and focus on his health and businesses. The former MP said that although rumors are that he is stepping down due to Reaboka Mbulawa who stood for Maun West and lost in the previous elections, and is now moving to Maun East which is Markus territory. He said that of recent he wanted to stand for the elections and realized that Primary Elections usually prove fatal for BDP, he wished that the BDP should have one person who will represent them from Maun West, Maun East and Ngami , however as they were negotiating this ,chatter of Maun West’s Mbulawa campaigning in Maun East rose. Markus said he was baffled by the news as he was not consulted by Mbulawa, when he only heard has already started campaigning in Maun East.
He decried that divisions, internal disputes and lack of communication will continue to weaken BDP‘s stand in North West. Additionally one of the reasons for stepping down is the high cost of campaigning .He will continue to support any contesting candidate in the BDP and continue with giving advice. When asked if he was stepping down due to a recent BDP Central committee meeting that held in Maun he said he was not part of the meeting and is not aware of the outcomes of that meeting.
Markus said he is proud of what he has done in parliament as he has contributed to the country through advocating for lifting of the hunting ban, he also says he advocated for districts to be given 10million each. “Through the 10 million initiative, I have managed to install water in un gazzetted settlements by drilling boreholes, and building offices in different Kgotla”, he said.
The 10million initiative was mostly to enable councils to attend to the problems in their districts as they are the ones closer to them. The former MP also added that the he is grateful for having built a primary school in Khwai as small kids were walking a distant of 130 kilometers to go to school through help of a donor.