Khama Recognises Botswana�s Founding Fathers

Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Tuesday October 3, 2017 18:03

 

Botswana gained Independence in 1966, and was regarded as one of the poorest countries in the world at the time. Khama’s father, Seretse Khama became the country’s founding president.

In his message on the country’s 51 years of independence, Khama said the founding fathers laid a good foundation for the country’s accomplishments in the last five decades that saw Botswana develop from a very poor, least developed country, to attain upper middle-income status. 

“Our modesty as a Republic is what has driven this economy and the Vision of our founding fathers of a democratic, non-racial and self-reliant nation.

Taking into consideration the geo-politics subsisting at the time of our independence, it goes without saying that the attainment of self-determination was indeed an onerous task, a near impossible mission that many in the world thought would be a still-born project,” he said.

Khama said their resilience proved willing and able to overcome challenges of the past, through perseverance and hard work. He said the current generation should work hard to build more success for the country.

“As we celebrate our progress over the past 51 years, let us use this moment as an opportunity to reflect, as well as plan on what we can do to achieve more going into the next 50 years.

We cannot afford to rest on our laurels based on past achievements; we need to do more to spring this country into the future. “We have received accolades in terms of development indices, but we should not become complacent as a result of our success, but need to dig deep and inculcate that culture of resilience and hard work as reflected in the history of this nation at inception,” he said.

Khama, who was giving his last independence speech, as he would be stepping down on March 31, 2018, urged Batswana to hold onto their culture and traditions as they uniquely identify them as a nation.

He said culture and traditions are critical factors of the accomplishments the country has had in the last five decades.

“We should therefore continue to sell our culture and tradition to others and proudly, truly represent Botswana, as well as what we stand for in this respect. They give us identity and pride, as well as uniqueness, in the process describing who we are as a country,” he added.

Furthermore, Khama called on the nation to reflect on some of the core values such as botho that have built the society and reinvigorate them so that we progress and overcome some of our key challenges.

He urged the nation to unite and continue to show patriotism to the country.