The Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) president, Mpho Bakwadi, survived a motion of no confidence that was passed against him and his executive committee during the BOKA Annual General Meeting (AGM) over the weekend.
The motion, which caught Bakwadi and his committee by surprise, was passed by Bose Caiphus of the Botswana Kofukan Federation. The effort to the leadership happened when there was another motion on the floor that was to be discussed. Caiphus argued that the Bakwadi-led committee has failed BOKA members ever since being voted into office. He gave examples saying the financial report that was presented during the AGM was incomplete, but members were expected to adopt it. “The AGM was to be held in June but was pushed to September without any explanation to the members. We spent half of the day discussing reconciliation between the current and other members who have taken the association. You just want to continue spending our (BOKA) money on legal costs. As Kofukan, we cannot allow that to continue, as such we are passing a motion of no confidence against you,” Caiphus said.
Reacting to the motion, Bakwadi shot down it down saying it could not proceed because the mover failed to submit it to BOKA office as procedure requires. He said there was only one motion that was submitted and it was the only motion that was to be discussed by the general assembly. “You cannot come here and pass a motion of no confidence; there is procedure that has to be followed. It cannot come from the floor or do you want me to teach you how it is done,” Bakwadi said. Kgosi Dibotelo of JKA Botswana said passing a motion of no confidence against BOKA leadership will destroy karate even further. He went on to submit that the members have been discussing reconciliation at length and even appointed a task force to deal with the issue.
For his part, Ofentse Bakwadi, of Haya Shi Ha said the only motion that was on the table was the one that should be discussed. “I am not against reconciliation, but the business at hand now is the motion that was long submitted. We cannot allow ourselves to be derailed at this point,” he added. That was the death of the motion by Kofukan as Bakwadi proceeded with the agenda of the meeting. Ahead of the motion, emotions were high which, was an indication that the delegates were divided. The delegates took more than three hours dealing with minutes from the previous meeting. Some felt they deserved to be given printed copies while some felt the electronic version was enough while some delegates said they had not seen the minutes.
