Secrecy surrounds Mohohlo's re-appointment

Brian Benza
Staff Writer | Friday January 15, 2010 00:00

 

Mohohlo's second tenure at the apex bank expired last year having taken the helm in 1999.

In a development that is very unusual for any presidential appointment in the country or under normal practices across the world, a closed lid has been kept on the re-appointment of the governor.

Acting Coordinator for Botswana Government Communication and Information Systems(BGCIS) Dr Raphael Dingalo at the Office of the president  refused to  answer questions on the re-appointment of the governor referring all questions to the central bank.

' The Office of the President has got nothing to say for now on the matter. I suggest you speak to the governor herself,' said Dingalo.

 Central bank Public Relations Officer Chepete Chepete  also threw back the buck at the Office of the President.' We cannot comment on the matter. The office of the president are the right people to comment on this issue and I do not know why they are referring you back to us,' said Chepete.

However, sources in the banking sector say that the grapevine in the industry insinuates that that governor was re-appointed on a three year contract late last year although the decision might have  actually been taken around July 2009.

' I understand she was re-appointed for a three year term and not five years.
'However, I must say this is highly unusual for the appointment of a central bank governor to be held in so much secrecy. This is supposed to be a public matter. I have not seen this anywhere in any other country,' said the source who declined to be named.
 If Mohohlo was indeed awarded a three-year contract, this would make her stay at the central bank for 36 years in total after having joined the bank at its inception in 1976.

She has also worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and, in her capacity as Governor of the IMF for Botswana, she has been a member of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), representing the Africa Group 1 Constituency comprising more than 20 Anglophone sub-Saharan African countries.

During her tenure, the bank has kept a sustainable monetary policy, which has seen  a stable exchange rate  and manageable inflation levels. Inflation is currently at 5 percent, sitting with the bank objective of between 3-6 percent.

Mohohlo has also served in Boards of major corporations in Botswana and abroad.  Among her international engagements, she was appointed Eminent Person in 2001 by the former Secretary General of the United Nations (Kofi Annan) to oversee the evaluation of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa.  She served in former Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission for Africa, which addressed Africa's poverty and stagnation problems.  She is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Africa Emerging Markets and the Africa Progress Panel. 

 She has also been chosen twice as Central Bank Governor of the Year for her region--by The Banker in 2002 and then by Euromoney in 2003.