Goya rallies BPF youth
LESEGO MOSINYI
Former MP for Palapye, Moisiraela Goya says the youth have potential to upset the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) by voting it out of power in the next 2024 general elections.
Speaking during a Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) Central region youth conference in Palapye on Saturday, Goya said the youth can easily change the landscape of Botswana politics as they not only possesses the numbers in terms of population, but they are also the ones mostly affected by unemployment and poverty which is enough motivation for them to vote out the ruling party. “In this country as the youth you are the most in terms of population, you are the most affected by unemployment and you are also the most affected by poverty, all these things are skewed to your side, because of all these three things, they should be embedded in each and every youth’s mind that I want to unseat the BDP because it is doing nothing to address these three issues that I am faced with,” he said.
Goya further advised the youth that, leading into the 2024 the youth must ensure that their voices are heard. “I don’t want to see you the youth taking a back step, you should be in the mix, you should be in there, don’t be observers when we are talking about your future. 2024 and onwards it is your future so don’t take a back step,” he said.
Furthermore, he advised them that they should also take part in the talks between opposition parties, as the talks concern them too. “Opposition Parties are negotiating to have some kind of cooperation going towards 2024 general elections, so you must ensure that you are involved as the youth, in this cooperation, the voice of the youth, must be heard In terms of how do you want to see this going forward. Without your voices, you are going to be left out, so you should not allow anybody to decide your future,” he said.
Moreover, Goya, who defected from the ruling BDP said if there was an opportunity for the opposition parties to defeat the current regime, it is in 2024. He indicated that if the opposition parties are to defeat it they should first desist from allocating themselves with position before they have defeated the enemy which is the BDP. “As I have spoken before we are going towards 2024, and 2024 means me and my family, you and your family so let’s go and work together as opposition parties and vote out BDP. what is important is that we should not start allocating ourselves with position right now, this is not a time to talk about who is going to the statehouse. Instead we should work on defeating the BDP and when we succeed that is when we can sit-down reflect and start allocating ourselves with position,” he said.
He indicated that if the opposition parties fail to defeat BDP in 2024 it will be a step back to square one. “Nevertheless, I believe that if we fail in 2024 to defeat the BDP as the BPF we should venture on our own and face this animal and see what happens,” he said.
Still at the conference, Goya further advised the BPF youth to come up with youth policy which will enunciate all the problems and challenges the youths in the country are facing and solutions that the BPF is going to provide when it takes over power. “If you are going to unseat BDP, or if you are going to convince people to vote it out, they are going to ask you a question, and say ok we will unseat the BDP, then what, what’s next, this is where youth policy come in,” he advised.
Further, he reminded them as they prepare for election of leadership, at ward, constitution, regional level, the executive committee of the Youth League, they should elect leaders who are capable. “Let’s put friendship aside, let’s vote for people who have the capabilities and the potential to be a leaders. Let’s vote for people and leave pettiness aside. The things that don’t build the party should be put aside,” he said. “We have a living example in this country which no one should find themselves in, which now where our current Patron, lieutenant General Dr Seretse Khama find himself in, he made a mistake, a mistake that is affecting the running of the country today,” he said.
“In our organization we should never make this mistake because a person who is one of us has made a mistake that is today regretting, when it comes to Leadership let’s vote carefully because the person that you elect or vote, ask yourself whether this is the person you want to be taking decision on your behalf,” warned Goya
He also cautioned the Young Patriots to be tolerant and listen to the views of others.
For her part, BPFYL Interim Vice President, Kesegofetse Magapa reiterated that a lot is expected from them as the youth to make a difference. She indicated that more fifty (50) percent of the voters are the youth, and at the same time as the youth they are the one that are affected by the current regime. “If there are people that have been affected by the current regime is the youth. We are at the bottom of the food chain. While the youth are the ones that families look up as providers, unfortunately they are not able to do so because of the current regime” she said.
She criticised the youth that drag their feet when it comes to working for the party. “Most of the expectations are on us to grow the movement, and if we decided to drag our feet there won’t be any thing that can be achieved,” she added.
“I can give you an example we had a bye election recently in Tamasane. Youths we’re not visible during the campaigns, there was a few young people, this was disheartening we as didn’t have an answer when we were asked where were the youth and why they are dragging their feet,” she said.
“if it doesn’t start with you and me that means there is no BPF, I want to believe the elders will have to vacate their posts someday or retire and if as the youth we drag our feet there will be no one who will fill those vacant seats,” she said.
In the mean-time Magapa told attendees to be part of the population census exercise that will begin in March so that they can know the population numbers in their areas.
“To avoid what we saw in 2019, where there was cheating in the general election you should be part of this census, because with the information on the population numbers in their area, maybe next time there won’t be able to easily cheat,” she said.
Meanwhile Magapa revealed that the Palapye regional youth conference is part of the fourteen (14) others that will be held across the country in order to meet with BPF youth for introspection. “We have decided to host this series of meetings because it had been long since we have met the members since we assumed our positions, so we have decided to traverse the country and check on youth and during these meetings we will be able to share knowledge, exchange ideas and come up with what we can do going forward to 2024,” she said.
She indicated that part of the main issues that they will discuss during their meetings with the members is the resuscitation of structures and elections of committees at ward, constitutional, regional and national level. “You should stand up and elect committees and make sure that they are active as we go to the national conference to elect the youth executive committee,” she said.
Magapa also promised the members that the congress wont be the last meeting as they plan to host other meetings leading to the national executive elective youth conference.