sit and watch in real time what the opposition Botswana Congress Party is going through.
From a distance it looks chaotic. It is not.
For a party that has been in existence for close to 30 years now, the BCP finds itself in a foreign territory.
It is a campaign season. And for BCP this season is like non other.
Online exchanges between party members are breaking the internet.
It would seem like a civil war is afoot. Opponents are smiling. In their imagination they see a crisis playing out at the BCP.
It is because the party’s big wigs are calling each other names.
Lobbies and sleights are flying around.
Big names are openly campaigning against each other – from the position of vice president downwards.
They are not at each other’s throat. They are just shouting out so that they can be heard.
Some people have called it baptism of fire. It is actually democracy at work.
And to an untrained eye, the BCP is about to collapse.
No, it is not. It will actually emerge stronger and if the will of members is respected, more united too.
Even internally, there are some BCP people who have been rattled by latest developments.
Reports indicate that going forward they will consider banning lobby lists, because, they assume, lobby lists polarize the party.
That would be a mistake. Just let the party play on.
Democracy never begets a crisis. Crisis is often a result of throttling people’s will.
For a long time the BCP has tried to micromanage its growth phases, including by way of stage-managing internal elections.
There comes a time in life when growth can no longer be subjected to test tube experiments.
When that time arrives growth runs on its own, it breaks free of all the shackles and on its own it starts to blossom.
Growth always gets to a stage where it behaves like a Frankenstein monster or should we say a jeannie out of a bottle.
That is true for human beings as it is for organisations.
In life there comes a time when children are no longer toddlers.
When that time comes parents should accept that their time of control is up.
Instincts often tell them to continue with their stranglehold. The reality on the ground says that control has become not only hard but also unsustainable.
The same applies to organisations that we build and grow to love.
On its own, and without seeking anybody’s consent, the BCP has outgrown the phase of acute control and micromanagement.
The sooner its high priests accept this, the better it will be for the whole organization.
Shortly after taking over the leadership of the Botswana Democratic Party, Festus Mogae decided that the inner party mechanics had to be reimagined.
The committee of 18, which was a powerful and largely unaccountable party organ that effectively decided on who could contest elections became Mogae’s first target.
He dismantled and uprooted.
In its position he introduced what he aptly named Bulela Ditswe.
Bulela Ditswe effectively took away power from the party strong men and gave it to the ordinary members.
Through Bulela Ditswe, for the first time the rank and file tasted not just power but democracy too. Bulela Ditswe gave them a choice.
They voted whoever they wanted to be their candidates in the general elections.
Nobody ever said Bulela Ditswe was perfect.
In fact democracy is itself not perfect.
But since its inception no BDP leader has come up with any other invention to replace Bulela Ditswe.
This is despite the fact that Bulela Ditswe has created problems for everyone who has led the BDP, starting with its chief architect – Mogae, Ian Khama, and even Mokgweetsi Masisi.
With Mogae it created chaos. With Khama it created rebellion. And with Masisi, something worse happened.
Khama wanted to reform it. He couldn’t. Masisi wanted to abolish it. He ended up losing power because he was perceived to be against primary elections.
My point is once the people taste democracy, you can’t take it away from them. You cannot even reduce it.
You can only increase it.
Democracy is like liberty. People will only accept more of it. Never less.
It is like giving a little kid a lollipop. You can’t take it away from them without them crying uncontrollably.
This column has the past heavily criticized the BCP for micromanaging democracy.
They have now opened up.
We should now give them credit.