Specially Elected Member of Parliament, Unity Dow, has not made up her mind on which party to join after resigning from the Botswana Democratic Party.
When addressing members of the media today, the former Minister said that she was going to remain an independent MP while still deciding on her future.
Dow who said she felt relieved by the decision she took, mentioned that she was talking with all leaders of the opposition parties to get to know them better and what they have.
Dow who was scheduled for a BDP disciplinary hearing next week for ‘bringing the party into disrepute by defiling party caucus and disagreeing with the President’ said the outcome of a disciplinary hearing would not lead to a settlement of the real dispute between her and the leadership.
“The real dispute between the BDP leadership and me is our competing versions of the nature of this country. I say it’s a Republic, it’s a democracy. My statements in Parliament are protected by the constitution. I say neither a social media troll nor a fellow Member of Parliament ought to have the power to muzzle any Member of Parliament.”
She said that in November 2020, her statement in Parliament titled, ‘Is it Right’ on government ‘ s refusal and reluctance to bring Directorate of Intelligence Service (DIS) to operate within its legally provided mandate was followed by a series of sustained and unrelenting brutal, brutish, abusive and cruel social media attacks on her and her family.
“The complaint against my by Chief Whip Liakat Kablay is just another of BDP’s methods of muzzling the public with me as an example, a case of silence one silence all.”
She noted that the relationship between her and the BDP leadership has broken down irretrievably. “This therefore marks the end of my membership of the BDP,” she said.