Mmegi

Botswana Presidents in times of crisis

Belgium - Brussels - 23 June 2009 - Green Week 2009 - Opening Session - Climate change: act and adapt - Festus Mogae , former Botswana President and UN Special  Envoy on climate change © EC/CE
Belgium - Brussels - 23 June 2009 - Green Week 2009 - Opening Session - Climate change: act and adapt - Festus Mogae , former Botswana President and UN Special Envoy on climate change © EC/CE

History has its cruel way of circling back, whispering old refrains in new voices. Botswana’s journey through storms of drought, diamond slumps, and global recessions has never been linear, but each crisis has been a mirror reflecting both the fragility of the nation’s economic model and the resilience of its leadership.

From Sir Ketumile Masire’s lonely vigil over a young, drought-stricken republic, to Festus Mogae’s defiant spending in the face of the Great Recession, and now to Duma Boko’s battle with a waning diamond age, the story is one of decisions taken in fear and hope, choices that tethered survival to prudence, imagination, or sheer political nerve.

Masire: The first trial of austerity

Editor's Comment
Human rights are sacred

It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...

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