27 Sep 2022

Botswana Congress Party (BCP) leader, Mr Dumelang Saleshando says his party can win the 2024 general elections without any coalition with other opposition parties.

Addressing a political rally in Tatisiding recently, Mr Saleshando, whose party parted ways with the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), said sometimes coalition governments did not represent the interests of the people.

He therefore, called on BCP supporters to work hand in hand with the party leadership, in order to win the coming general elections.

He explained that BCP was the only party that had the interest of Batswana at heart, citing an example of its willingness to fight unemployment, especially amongst the youth.

He said one of the challenges facing the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) was its failure to fight the unemployment, which was increasing at an alarming rate.

Mr Saleshando said when voted into power, his party would remain resolute in the fight against unemployment, adding that the welfare of Batswana was at stake due to the fact that the ruling BDP was not governing this country properly.

He also touched on the state of corruption in the country saying the ruling BDP was not doing enough to fight the ‘pandemic’.

He therefore called on Batswana to ignore the BDP in the 2024 general elections and vote for his party.

He said the country was faced with many challenges, especially in the health sector,  citing the acute shortage of drugs in the country, which he said was due to the poor management of the BDP government.

Mr Saleshando further said  his party was in negotiations with the opposition Alliance for Progressives (AP) to see if they could work together for a better Botswana.

Former MP for Francistown West, Mr Vain Mamela also lambasted the ruling BDP for what he said was poor management of the country’s economy.

Mr Mamela said the distribution of resources was not done equitably under the BDP government, adding that the ruling BDP had failed Batswana in many aspects, as evidenced by the non-improvement of the living standard of Batswana.

He said Tati East constituency was one of the constituencies facing many problems including  poor infrastructure, especially on roads.

He said the state of the constituency was continuously deteriorating because of lack of representation at both council and parliamentary level.

Mr Mamela also lambasted the government for paying farmers ‘peanuts’ when compensating them for killing their animals infected with Foot and Mouth Disease.

He said vaccinating the animals would be a better solution as compared  to killing them, adding that livestock was the backbone of the rural community. ENDS