Opposition instability can be resolved – Khama
Innocent Selatlhwa | Tuesday July 19, 2022 06:00
While Khama believes that this can only be achieved through a united opposition, internal wranglings within the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) and individual opposition parties could lead to the dream being deferred.
Khama has said despite the infighting at UDC, even at his own Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), and differences within individual opposition parties, there is still hope that BDP can be brought down.
“Indeed there is some instability in some opposition entities but nothing that cannot be resolved and it’s a work in progress. Do not forget there is also instability in the BDP. My message to those you mention (Bagammangwato, the opposition, Batswana) is that they have been neglected like nothing we ever expected to be meted out on Batswana by Batswana. We have a regime masquerading as a government but is a cartel led by narcissistic individuals who have no shame. In a blatant manner, they corruptly enrich themselves including in the award of tenders, land, and forcing business partnerships for such enrichment from top to bottom,” he said.
The former president said opposition parties should think of adversities brought by the ruling party when dealing with their issues.
“The suffering and pain the nation is going through, and which gets worse by the day, is unprecedented in our country all because of gross mismanagement of the affairs of state and greed. In order to restore our democracy, adherence to the rule of law and human rights and to once again reverse growing unemployment, inequality, poverty, and corruption is to remove Cava (BDP) in a landslide election victory and return Botswana and Batswana to the path of Botho, tolerance, freedoms, and opportunities,” he said.
The BPF patron has returned to his ‘exile home’ Johannesburg, where he has been making plans alongside other opposition parties to unseat the man he passed the baton to in 2018. Following his recent trip to Europe, Khama said he was back in Johannesburg while his homecoming plans remain in motion.
“It was a relatively easy decision when you know the consequences for your well-being if one was to return to Botswana. I have a time-scale window within which I plan to return. After consulting with the three groups I work with to determine when I should, it will then become clear,” he said.
On his engagement with the European media and other stakeholders about his ‘harassment’, Khama said: “I had not gone overseas to engage about my harassment at the hands of state agencies but on other issues. But as you would expect many had heard about everything that had happened to me including attempts to eliminate me and indeed they showed and offered support.”