Botswana's New President

Carla Neal/Apr. 9 12:50pm/Democracy

This past week another country in Africa underwent a change in leadership. Botswana, a country that got its independence only 42 years ago saw a new President sworn into office. This came after the President of the country decided to step down from power making the vice-president, Ian Khama, the countries new president until the actual elections held next year. In his first address he spoke that the country would be looking now to the future and less to the past, and do so requires focus on “Democracy, Development, Dignity and Discipline”. Khama is the ruling chairperson for the BDP and says that the country will have to work together to overcome the many challenges it has been and is starting to face due to economic growth. Poverty, “changing social values”, employment, and aid programs are some of the things his administration is going to be working on. This article goes on to tell about who is in the cabinet, 25% are women, and who the new VP is.

Now while I don’t quite know the circumstances surrounding the former President and why he resigned, the new president’s ideas make it sound like this was the best thing for the country simply because, as the new President was talking about, the country has been focused on their independence for the past 42 years and now it is time for them to move on and start thinking about the future and as the industries in that country grow the government and people need to as well. The one thing that still doesn’t have me sold on this being the best thing for the country as a whole is that Botswana is one of the top producers of diamonds in the world, so while it may be good for the economy, I don’t know how good it will be for the people/workers.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804080633.html