10th August 2024
Own Correspondent
Umbrella for Democratic Change(UDC) President Duma Boko stressed that the economy is on the verge of a total collapse at the unveiling of the UDC Maifesto at Aria at Tlokweng Sunday.
Lacking the buzz, financial backing and numbers of the 2014 and 2019 general elections with opposition parties fractured and divided he continued to cut a bullish figure.
“For the last twelve months to April 2024, the economy experienced zero growth. It has now surfaced that between July 2023 and April 2024, Government savings fell from P 19.1 billion to P5.1 billion; a 75% fall. It is not only the economy that has collapsed under this regime,” said Boko
He said, “The judiciary has lost all integrity. All other institutions such as DCEC, DPP and Attorney General, have been stripped of any credibility. The rule of law has been eroded with the DIS, led by an unscrupulous and incompetent dimwit, operating outside the law and acting with impunity.”
Boko said the DIS has now become a terrorist organization deployed to intimidate and brutalize innocent members of society. Batswana live in fear, more of the DIS than common criminals who threaten their wellbeing. 6 One of the most corrupt and despicable institutions is the so called Independent Electoral Commission, led by one the President’s errand boys.
“When the Constitution and the Electoral Act both enjoin the IEC to render free, fair and transparent elections the IEC conspires to commit the most egregious subversion of these imperatives. Aided by a discredited judiciary, the IEC resisted all efforts to have the UDC deploy observers at voter registration points to provide independent oversight and ensure transparency,” said Boko.
He said, “It has also flatly refused to avail electronic copies of the voters’ rolls which would facilitate meaningful and thorough scrutiny and examination by all role players. Before the bench-marking excursion to the fraudulent Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, ZEC, the IEC provided electronic versions of the voters’ rolls without any difficulty.”
The IEC is buoyed in this impropriety by the knowledge that if this were challenged in court, their Chief Justice will surely rig the judicial process and empanel a team of sing along judges to do the President’s bidding. The election petitions of 2019 remain a shrill reminder of what a corrupt judiciary can do.
“It is for this reason that the UDC mobilized and marshalled Madibelatlhopho, a nationwide team of citizens and voters ready to monitor the elections and 7 defend the integrity of the vote. They are guardians of the democratic process. They need our full support,” said Boko.
He said, “In fact, every citizen who believes in democracy and fair play must enlist and become a part of this movement. In this way, we will, together, secure a free, fair and transparent electoral process and bring an end to the rampant electoral fraud of the BDP, DIS and IEC.”
Boko who appeared to endorse a quasi-judicial oversight of the electoral process may live to regret his unilateral endorsement of informal vigilante groups to oversee election process.
