Let the action begin | The Sunday Standard

Sunday, 11^day In August 2024, the Botswana Football Association (BFA) Electoral Appeals Committee ordered the association’s Electoral Committee to include Tariq Babison on the list of candidates for the National Executive Committee (NEC).

Among other things, the Electoral Appeals Commission “prohibited” the Electoral Commission from “conducting any further examination of the Appellant’s (Babitseng) nomination application”. It also ordered that “the list of candidates published on May 5^day August 2024” and “revise and reissue this Order accordingly within three (3) days of issuance.”

This ruling will hopefully put to rest once and for all all the debates about who should or should not be on the ballot. For Barbison and other candidates who have suffered the humiliation of unfair scrutiny, this ruling means one thing, “The race for BFA office can now begin!”

“For us, this ruling means that we can now start campaigning in earnest. We intend to start immediately because we have to visit all 17 BFA districts to canvass for votes,” explained an insider in the Barbison campaign team. “We have to make every day count.”

With a month to go until the BFA election convention, the insider said time was of the essence because the campaign started late. “We couldn’t really start the campaign because of the uncertainty surrounding Barbison’s candidacy.”

“Of course, we have been on the sidelines talking to potential voters. But since we are not sure whether we will run, we cannot go all out. When voters ask us if we are sure we will make it to the candidacy, we cannot answer,” the campaign insider said.

The concern for Barbison’s campaign is that the “unnecessary cases” that have occurred have drained resources. “These cases are unnecessary. They take up a lot of resources that we could have used for our campaign. It’s worse for us because we don’t have sponsors to help us run our campaign.”

While they are keen to start the campaign, there are concerns. Given the unpredictability of the BFA election committee, they are not yet sure if they are safe. “You never know what these people will do. At the moment, we are just waiting to see if Babison’s name will appear on the list of candidates, which will be announced in a few days. Everything will be clearer by then,” said an insider from Babison’s team.