GAZETTE REPORTER
Presidential candidate for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Nonofo Molefhi, has attributed the party’s loss of power in the 2024 general elections to complacency among leaders of the party.
Launching his presidential candidacy in Gaborone this week, the former cabinet minister said he warned the party as far back as the Tonota elective congress in 2017 but his concerns were dismissed.
Molefhi said his calls for reforms were misinterpreted as an attempt to create parallel centres of power. “The BDP has been eroding from its values, traditions and core ethos on which the party was built,” he said.
Devolution
“When I noticed these shifts, I advocated for the devolution of the president’s powers but was accused of creating two centres of power. I was shunned at the Tonota congress for advocating for this. I never changed my position afterwards.
“I kept warning democrats about this complacency but was accused of trying to undermine the leadership. Fast forward to 2024, we lost the general elections because of what I had warned about.”
Despite the loss, Molefhi expressed optimism about the party’s future, stating that many candidates and democrats now support the reforms that he has long championed.
Losing touch
“Today I am happy that most democrats, including candidates, believe in what I have been advocating for,” he said. “I long warned about this complacency, but most democrats only agreed with me after the party lost the general elections.”
Molefhi further accused the party leadership of losing touch with the electorate, emphasising that positions of power should serve the people, not personal agendas.
“As leaders, we should be mindful that whatever decisions we make favour the electorate, not ourselves,” he added.
He noted that the loss of elections and power marked a turning point for the BDP, hence his call for introspection, restoration, reforms and rebuilding. “All these factors are what could have revived the BDP’s fortunes in the 2029 general elections,” he said.