{"id":31595,"date":"2023-07-31T19:25:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T19:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?p=31595"},"modified":"2023-07-31T19:07:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T19:07:16","slug":"udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi","title":{"rendered":"UDC downplayed COVID-19 pandemic President Masisi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has made great strides in implementation of its 2019 general elections manifesto.<\/b><\/p>\n

The revitalised economy after the devastating COVID-19 pandemic was an indicator of the country\u2019s resilience, thanks to BDP leadership, said President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi during a political rally to welcome Mr Pono Moatlhodi back into the party in Tonota on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The World Bank report shows that even though Botswana\u2019s economy contracted by 8.7 per cent due to COVID-19 in 2020, the economy has since re-bounded strongly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been given a pat on the back by many African heads of state for doing a stellar job as a country,\u201d President Masisi said, promising that government would continue to work hard to ensure that the workforce welfare was taken care of.<\/p>\n

In other issues, President Masisi called upon the opposition coalition, Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), to explain to Batswana the reason why it downplayed the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic that claimed many lives.<\/p>\n

The UDC, President Masisi said, should not be allowed to go into the 2024 general elections without first being taken to task to explain its stance, which misled the nation.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, President Masisi said the UDC had after losing elections in 2019 approached the courts claiming that there was election fraud, but there was no supporting evidence to strengthen their case.<\/p>\n

The case was later dismissed by the courts.<\/p>\n

The position by the opposition, he said, was a desperate ploy to fan chaos and steal elections.<\/p>\n

Also, President Masisi told multitudes that gathered at the Makobeng freedom square that he had nothing to hide as far as his assets were concerned.<\/p>\n

He said those who suspected he could be amassing wealth inappropriately were at liberty to report to relevant authorities.<\/p>\n

He said he remained a supporter of the Asset declaration act, which monitored the interests, income and liabilities of certain categories of people to curb misappropriation.<\/p>\n

For his part, Mr Moatlhodi, who is Tonota MP and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, told of his \u2018painful\u2019 albeit short stay at the UDC.<\/p>\n

The UDC, he said, was devoid of peace and its leadership suppressed divergent views; something he said left him with no choice but to return to the BDP.<\/p>\n

BDP stalwarts and veterans alike, he said, also did not relent in their pursuit to have him return to the BDP.<\/p>\n

The party also welcomed defectors and new members into its fold and called on democrats to start a serious recruitment exercise going into 2024.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has made great strides in implementation of its 2019 general elections manifesto. The revitalised economy after the devastating COVID-19 pandemic was an indicator of the country\u2019s resilience, thanks to BDP leadership, said President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi during a political rally to welcome Mr Pono Moatlhodi back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":31594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-31595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-parties","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nUDC downplayed COVID-19 pandemic President Masisi - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has made great strides in implementation of its 2019 general elections man ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UDC downplayed COVID-19 pandemic President Masisi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has made great strides in implementation of its 2019 general elections man ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-31T19:25:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1690813859.681725.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UDC downplayed COVID-19 pandemic President Masisi\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-31T19:25:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi\"},\"wordCount\":432,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1690813859.681725.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/udc-downplayed-covid-19-pandemic-president-masisi\",\"name\":\"UDC downplayed COVID-19 pandemic President Masisi - 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