12 Mar 2018

Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi has urged members of the Botswana Democratic Party to revive all party structures as one of the efforts to disseminate the BDP massage to Batswana.

Speaking at Mochudi West party veterans fundraising beauty pageant, Mr Masisi said in order to disseminate the BDP mandate, party structures at all levels must be mobilised for the cause while all structures should be in good state and sufficiently motivated.

The Vice President pleaded with all the democrats to ensure that all party structure were active and functional towards the upcoming general election, adding that a thorough audit must be undertaken in every constituency to ascertain the status of every structure.

As an imperative, he therefore said every cell, ward, branch and regional structure must function at maximum level because the BDP organisational structure was designed in such a way that the party should not be lacking in terms of foot soldiers to mobilise electorate.

Mr Masisi said since the first victory in 1965, BDP had been returned to office on account of the ability to respond to the needs of the citizenry.

“We have always preached a basic message, easily understood by our people to the effect that as a government we stand for development and improvement of the life conditions of Batswana.

Since we assumed stewardship of this nation, the life of the average Motswana has undergone tremendous positive change,” he said.

Mr Masisi noted that since attainment of nationhood, Batswana considered BDP the party of governance as it continues to be the custodian of every Motswana’s dream and aspirations for a better present and even better future.

As the BDP is emerging from conducting primary election at opposition-held constituency, Mr Masisi reiterated the need for reconciliation between candidates who contested the primary election, highlighting that primary elections were never meant to split the unity within the BDP, but should rather be regarded as another democratic and transparent way of choosing a leader.

Mr Masisi said even as the largest and most popular party in the country, BDP could not afford the luxury of losing even one democrat to either the opposition or to the wilderness due to his loss in the primary election.

The Vice President cautioned Batswana to guard against opposition-aligned rumor mills who spread malicious allegations aimed at tarnishing the good BDP name and its leadership. He pleaded with Batswana to develop the culture of finding the truth in whatever news or allegations they were being fed.

Further, Minister of Basic Education and Skills Development, Ms Unity Dow applauded the BDP-lead government for its role in transforming the country, saying that it had, since independence, been determined to prudently preserve and grow the interests of the country, particularly in human empowerment.

Botswana, she said, was one of the poorest countries in the world at independence, but credit should be given to the BDP government for successfully transforming the economy of the country from the poorest to upper-middle income country.

She pleaded with BDP members not to bask in the glory of previous election victories, but rather soldier on with vigorous campaigns to lure in new members to the party particularly young people. Ends