My views after the first day of the inter party dialogue conference in Naivasha, Kenya. It is a pity that in all the countries where conflicts erupted, the major cause was lack of dialogue between the ruling parties,opposition parties, the civil society groups and the youth. Ruling parties behaved as if everything was fine even when they found simmering discontent. In Botswana, they always say we are not ruling with the opposition. The government does not see the need to engage in inter party dialogue to discuss national issues such as unemployment, landless ness, corruption, political reforms, declining economy and a bleak economic future. Botswana used to have an all party conference where parties were given an opportunity to dialogue but that was discontinued by the current administration. Now opposition parties and the civil society groups are made to watch Botswana sinking down everyday without being given any platform to suggest solutions. As we speak today, there is dialogue in Mozambique because of unrest which has already killed people. In Kenya it happened pretty much the same way in 2004. In Zimbabwe, the opposition was marginalized until what happened,happened leading to the government of national unity. In Tanzania the leadership became very wise when they realized that people were not too happy with the way things were happening. This was regardless of the landslide victories that were enjoyed by the ruling CCM. They decided to have an inclusive government where the first Vice President is from the opposition, The minister for constitutional reforms and that of health are from the opposition just to give an example.It is not a coalition government but an inclusive government for purposes of inter party dialogue in Tanzania. The leadership here realized that politics is not always about power or winning elections but also about the lives and the future of the citizens. In Mali, there is dialogue as we speak and this had to come at a cost, people losing lives. The BDP government needs to open dialogue with the nation, opposition, civil society and the media so that there is a cross pollination of ideas on how the problems besieging Botswana can be resolved.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 16:22:30 +0000
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