26 Jan 2015

Members of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in the Good Hope-Mabule constituency have been urged to vote for the party in large numbers and lure other eligible voters, especially from the opposition parties, to vote for the party candidate in the Good Hope ward. 

Speaking during the launch of the council candidate, Mr Kopo Mononi in Good Hope recently, the Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi, said politics was a game of numbers thus the party needed more numbers to win the  ward bye election scheduled for January 31.

Mr Masisi was, however, quick to caution the BDP campaign teams not to get drawn to use foul language during the campaign period lest they presented the party in a bad light, “lure more people to vote for us but do not get tempted to use bad language because we are a God fearing party,” he warned.

He said it was imperative for the constituents to vote for Mr Mononi as he had a good track record. He said they should vote for someone like Mr Mononi , who would complement and encourage them to take advantage of the available citizen empowerment programmes and initiatives. 

He said voting for the opposition parties could be detrimental to the future of the area and the nation at large. Mr Masisi also urged members to embark on a rigorous voter education campaign to empower members to vote accordingly. 

He feared others might capitalise on the ignorance of some members, especially the elderly. Mr Masisi, also Member of Parliament for the Moshupa-Manyana constituency, has further warned the constituents to be vigilant and pick only good standing members to observe the coming elections to avoid irregularities.

Although the party lost the  constiutuency to the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) in the last General elections, the VP commended the individual party voters for keeping the BDP in power but stressed the need to snatch the constituency from the grip of the opposition in 2019 . 

He said voters could only secure their future by keeping his party in power. On other issues, Mr Masisi shared that government, this year going forward, would scale up efforts to create employment opportunities for Batswana. He said all the government ministries have been advised to come up with job creation initiatives.

 “That’s what we promised you before the elections and we are going to do it,” he said.

For his part, former area Member of Parliament Mr Kitso Mokaila said his party could only win the race if they worked as a collective. He urged the constituents to vote for Mr Mononi, whom he described as a true servant of the people. 

In the last election Mr James Mathokgwane of the UDC won the constituency with 6712 votes against Mr Mokaila’s 6101, the first time the area was won by an opposition party since Independence in 1966. 

Mr Mononi, in his remarks, said the bye-election presented the party members and well-wishers with a golden opportunity to reaffirm their loyalty through a ballot. Mr Mononi promised to discharge nothing less than humble service if voted to council.

The bye-election came as a result of a tie between BDP and UDC with 992 votes each. ENDS