Moupo's fall from grace

Editor | Tuesday February 12, 2008 00:00

Primaries are not a new phenomenon in Botswana politics. They happen whenever general elections or by-elections are approaching. The primaries are a living example of inner party democracy. Various political parties use them as an objective selection criterion to find the best representative from amongst the party members.

Because there is always a winner and a loser, primaries generate a lot of interest. But the BNF primaries produced the biggest of upsets when the incumbent president was defeated by an ordinary member of the party. Maemo Bantsi's victory over Otsweletse Moupo is the stuff that makes fairy tales.

To some people, this defeat goes to demonstrate the democracy at work. To them it shows that even Presidents and kings are subject to the will of the people. Even presidents are servants of the people and they can be recalled if they fail to deliver or when they become an embarrassment to the very people that they purport to represent. Any democrat would not argue against the voice of people, as they say in politics 'the voice of the people is the voice of God'. If democracy is the sword that Moupo fell to, he cannot complain, after all just eight months ago he called a special congress just to get the people's verdict on who should lead the party. What is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander.

Let us however not forget that the person who has lost the constituency elections over the weekend is the BNF president. The BNF president is the face of the party and to torture the implication, he is the embodiment of the BNF policies and programmes. This is the same man who got an overwhelming endorsement at the Molepolole Special Congress in May. Eight months later, a BNF constituency has lost confidence in him to lead the constituency. It goes without saying that if the BNF does not have faith in their own leader, they cannot wish or even hope that members of other parties and other neutrals would have faith in a leader that they have rejected themselves.

Of course, this is a gross over-simplification because Moupo has only been rejected by a constituency - and not the BNF national constituency. But whichever way you look at it, the BNF has an egg on its face.

They publicly ridiculed their own leader by allowing him to engage in a duel with a plebeian and he (Moupo) was easily floored.

Moupo has had his own fair share of goofs and other controversies but for him to be embarrassed by his own party is just too much to take. Although it is undemocratic, parties generally protect their leaders from such humiliations if the leader is not powerful enough to ward off a challenge. The BNF allowed their leader to be challenged and he was beaten and his image and authority is battered.

In other organisations, there would be a lot of soul-searching and self-introspection but this is the BNF. Brace yourself for more surprises.
 
                                                    Today's Thought
It is more difficult to organise a peace than to win a war; but the fruits of victory will be
lost if the peace is not organised.
                                                    - Aristotle