Boko`s first pals and travels :: Mmegi Online

In his first 100 days as Botswana’s head of State, President Duma Boko has made seven trips outside the country, and has been visited by two heads of State and government. The diplomatic trips oscillated between peace interventions meetings, economic and political diplomacy mainly because of an unclear diplomatic stance the country wobbles in writes TIMOTHY LEWANIKA.

While there has been some suggestions online that Boko will be an “on the air President” his first seven State visits are not out of the ordinary and their nature due for presidential attention. Presidents are strategic actors who carefully allocate their scarce resources. They need to travel abroad to engage in face-to-face diplomacy, but they must also be present and active in national politics. Some travels, such as summits of world leaders, are all but mandatory for presidents while other occasions, are at the discretion of the President.

Bokos first diplomatic engagement with a head of State in his capacity as the First Citizen was with President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Since then the duo has met officially three times, first at Victoria Falls for the world chilldren's Day commemoration followed by two Southern African Development Countries (SADC) engagements.

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