The Opposition Conundrum

 Let me state unequivocally that I am not, never have been, a member or a sympathizer of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). I am a patriot, loyal to the Republic, and have been confused with BDP sympathizers merely because as a civil servant, all my energy had to be expended in full cooperation with the ruling party, which unfortunately happened to be the BDP. But my loyalty all that time was to the Republic and not to the BDP. This same loyalty to the Republic leads me to critically look at the behavior of the opposition political parties.

The opposition collective, me included, have often expressed their (our) conviction that the top civil servants, such as Permanent Secretaries, are appointed on the basis of their loyalty to the ruling party (BDP). We believe that unless the BDP has full "political" trust in you, you will never make it to the top rungs of the civil service ladder, no matter how efficient or knowledgeable a worker you may be.

But herein lies the conundrum: when a former top civil servant such as a former permanent secretary joins the opposition political parties, such a development is considered a great achievement by the political party concerned, to the extent that a barrage of propagandistic self praise by the party becomes the order of the day. The new member is labelled a BIG catch! I cannot wrap my head around this conundrum. Does it perhaps mean that secretly the opposition political parties do not really mean to change anything in the event that they come to power? If indeed they mean to change things why would they consider a former Permanent Secretary under the BDP to be a prized catch? I would expect opposition political parties to reject application for membership by such people!   

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