FRANCISTOWN: BotswanaDemocratic Party (BDP)Francistown regional congressdescended into a three-ringcircus following failure of delegatesto form a quorum.The long planned regional congresswas supposed to be amongother things a preparatory gatheringfor the coming BDP main congressto be held in Maun. Newsreaching the North Cast is that thecongress could not reach the 200minimum numbers of delegateswho must be present to pass decisionsand conduct party business.
It appears that a paltry less than100 delegates turned up resultingin fi ve hours delay of proceedingswith the hope that the numberswould increase. In the afternoonwhen the director of proceedingsfi nally started the congress proceedings,some delegates amongthem Tati East Member of ParliamentGuma Moyo raised a pointof procedure, in particular thefailure to quorate issue. Chaos issaid to have ensued with membersmumbled about how and whythe congress did not have enoughpeople present to allow offi cialparty decisions to be made. Concerneddelegates who spoke to theNorth Cast accused the committeeof sleeping on the job. They saidthat the reason for the low turnoutwas that wards failed to elect delegatesto attend the congress. “Thedelegates who were supposed toattend this congress should havebeen elected at wards level so thiscommittee failed to do that.
Thedelegates who are in attendancenow are supposed to be delegatesfor the coming national congress,which means that even if they canquorate they will be contraveningthe constitution. We do not knowwhy the committee failed its duty,”lamented one of the aggrieved delegates.Further the delegates accusedtheir MPs of not leading by exampleas they also failed to attendthe regional congress. “This regionis made up of fi ve constituenciesbut only Moyo managed to attendand the rest are not here, so howcan ordinary members attend whentheir representatives failed to attendan important congress whichwas suppose to make resolutionsof the coming national congress,”howled one delegate who spoke tothe North Cast and did not want tobe identifi ed.
In an interview withthe North Cast, a visibly disappointedregional chairperson, FordMoiteela expressed his displeasureat the structures’ leaders sayingthat they are not doing enough.He charged that what happenedshows that the people who aregiven mandate by the party arejust relaxed and underperforming.“This was an important congressthat was supposed to make resolutions,so as things stand we cannotpresent our resolutions at thenational congress. There were lotsof pressing issues to discuss inthis congress,” Moiteela said withconcern. He further called for theremoval of incapable people fromthe party structures saying thatthey are just adding numbers butfail their mandate.