Duma Boko | |
Term Start1: | November 2012 |
Office2: | Leader of the Opposition |
Term Start2: | 25 October 2014 |
Term End2: | 28 August 2019 |
Predecessor2: | Dumelang Saleshando |
Successor2: | Dumelang Saleshando |
Birth Date: | 31 December 1969 |
Birth Place: | Mahalapye, Botswana |
Party: | Botswana National Front |
Residence: | Gaborone |
Alma Mater: | Harvard Law School, University of Botswana |
Profession: | Lawyer, Academic, bureaucrat |
Duma Gideon Boko is a Botswana politician who serves as the president of both the Botswana National Front (BNF) and the main opposition alliance, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). He was the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly from 2014–2019. He is a lawyer and jurist.[1]
Duma Boko attained the presidency of the BNF in 2010. He led the creation of the Umbrella for Democratic Change, an alliance of the main opposition parties in Botswana. He ran as the alliance's president in Botswana's elections in 2014 and 2019.[2]
His father worked as a lecturer at Madiba Brigades. Duma's father died in 2004. Duma has a sister, Emma Boko.
In 1987 Boko studied law at University of Botswana (UB). He was elected to the Student Representative Council (SRC). Among his law classmates were High Court judges Michael Leburu, Key Dingake, Bengbame Sechele and Lot Moroka. After graduating, in 1993, he furthered his studies at Harvard Law School.[3]
He returned to teach Law at UB from 1993-2003,[4] while operating a law firm on the side. In the early 2000s Boko wrote a column in The Monitor newspaper in which he claimed that judges were not intellectually progressive.[5] He expressed frustration that academics and judges were not doing enough research to make informed judgments.
Boko became the leader of the Botswana National Front (BNF) in 2010.[6] His position and party membership was challenged on the grounds that when the BNF split in 2000, he had become a founding member of the National Democratic Front (NDF).[7] If proven, this would, according to the BNF constitution, disqualify him from a leadership position in the party for three years after rejoining it. He prevailed in court. He inherited a party that was in decline under the leadership of Otsweletse Moupo.
The BNF came together with the newly formed Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), a splinter of the Botswana Democratic Party, and the Botswana Peoples Party to form the Umbrella for Democratic Change.[8] Some BNF members were strongly against the coalition, arguing that the exercise would make their party disappear. Lawsuits against Boko and his central committee were filed before the High Court. Boko and the BNF won all the court challenges.[9]
In the 2014 general elections, Duma Boko led UDC to a narrow win of the State House. UDC was the second largest party to win seats.[10] Boko became the leader of the Opposition.
In the 2019 general elections, Duma Boko was soundly defeated by Anna Mokgethi of the BDP in the Gaborone Bonnington North constituency and as a result of his defeat, he was no longer the Leader of the Opposition in the 12th National Assembly.[11]
Duma Boko, claims there was massive vote rigging and fraud during the general election, by the BDP, to favour the current President, Mokgweetsi Masisi. The UDC lost the case with costs.[12]