12 Jun 2018

President Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi has encouraged democrats and Moshupa/Manyana constituents to vote for Mr Karabo Gare and propel him to take up where he had left off.

Mr Masisi, also Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leader and former Moshupa/Manyana Constituency Member of Parliament, said this when he launched Mr Gare in Moshupa on June 10.

He said the youthful Gare had the courage, diligence and smarts to take the area to the next level.

He indicated that they were already preparing a slot for him in one of the Parliamentary committees with a view to benefit from his expertise.

“I wholeheartedly hand over this constituency to you, safe in the knowledge that you will creditably deliver,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Masisi has advised democrats to sell the party’s development agenda and refrain from using foul language during the electioneering period.

He also advised the campaign team to treat the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) candidate, Mr Jonathan Sethono with dignity and respect.

Welcoming new members to the party, who included Mr Benjamin Kelepang and Mr Kelepang Makuruetsa both from the UDC, President Masisi encouraged democrats to continue recruiting more people into the BDP fold, adding politics was a game of numbers.

He said his party was growing by leaps and bounds and also appealing to both the young and old.

He said in the past the BDP was said to appeal to the old only, the perception which had since changed.

For his part, Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane informed the gathering that the BDP was not a regional party.

Mr Tsogwane said this after parading Cabinet ministers who had accompanied President Masisi to the launch, among them Mr Eric Molale, Mr Patrick Ralotsia and Ms Dorcas Makgato .

He said the Cabinet was representative of all Batswana across the length and breadth of the country.

He thus dismissed, as baseless, allegations that the new administration was dividing the nation along North and South boundary lines.

He warned that doing so would be cancerous.

Mr Tsogwane, also MP for Boteti West Constituency, further explained that President Masisi was entitled to make administrative changes in the interest of service delivery.He said some changes were not in any manner of way aimed at discrediting his predecessors.

Mr Tsogwane also encouraged Batswana not to take the political climate they have enjoyed since independence for granted.

He attributed the political stability to the BDP system of governance.

Mr Tsogwane likewise encouraged democrats, friends and relatives to vote for Mr Gare, but warned that he was fitting shoes of a giant.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Gare, an accountant by training, acknowledged that he was following in the footsteps of a giant, but with their support, he had every reason to trudge on the road ahead.

He said the road ahead was not for the faint hearted but for those who could take the nation up the long rugged road to prosperity.

However, if voted, Mr Gare would have only 14 months to serve the constituency as well as to sit in only four Parliament sessions, which is too short a time to prove his worth.

In terms of his vision for the constituency, he said he would follow up on projects which Mr Masisi left on the table like the construction of Moshupa primary hospital, water shortage, resealing of Mmankgodi/Manyana road, adding without road infrastructure residents were rather isolated.

He also mentioned the upgrading of Mogonye health post and connecting Bikwe to the national power grid, among others.

BDP returnee, Mr Kentse Rammidi also encouraged BDP sons and daughters, who were still groping in the wilderness like Botswana Movement for Democracy leader, Mr Sydney Pilane, to gravitate back home.

Mr Rammidi, who was among the critical drivers of opposition unity, said there was still no alternative to the BDP.

Mr Rammidi further described President Masisi’s style of leadership as the new dawn, adding it was about time for those who had left to return to the party. ENDS