It is common knowledge that in the immediate post-independence period, this country was rated one of the three poorest in the world. Botswana was a basket case in the literal sense of the word and prospects for any change in its fortunes were bleak. The nationalists that had agitated for sovereignty had attained it but confronting them was a desperately poor country with a destitute population. The prognosis for the health of the nascent state was not good. That would explain why the British left without any shot being fired in anger. There was simply nothing to fight for.
This was in contrast to many other struggles for self-determination, which were driven by both political and resource nationalism. In a fortuitous stroke, minerals were discovered after independence and they completely changed the country. With the government enjoying access to improved revenues, it crafted a national development agenda of programmes and policies specifically aimed at uplifting the citizenry from a miserable existence. This involved major infrastructural developments and the provision of social and public services. These were wide ranging and took the form of free health care, drought alleviation, free education, entrepreneurial and agricultural assistance schemes. Coverage was progressively extended to old age pension, orphan care and anti-retroviral programmes.
