At independence Botswana’s future looked bleak. Not only was the new republic broke and landlocked, majority of the citizens were iliterate and many doubted it would survive without the colonial masters.

Over 50 years later, Botswana is a bacon of peace democracy and using natural resorces for improving the lives of the citizens. A beacon of hope. This success story of Botswana is widely believed to be a result of prudent leadership of its five presidents.

The founding President

Sir Seretse Khama was born on 1 July 1921 in Serowe to Sekgoma Khama, son of Kgosi Khama III, ruler of the Bangwato people. Khama attended boarding schools in South Africa and later went to Fort Hare University College in the Eastern Cape, where he graduated with a BA degree in 1944.

In 1945 he went to Balliol College, Oxford and after a year, he enrolled for barrister studies at the Inner Temple, London.

In 1948, Khama married English woman Ruth Williams although his uncle Tshekedi disapproved of the union. The British Labour Government barred Khama from taking up chieftainship of the Bangwato and in 1951, under pressure from the apartheid regime in South Africa, he was forced into exile in England.

In 1956, Britain allowed Khama and his young family back home as commoners and private citizens. Khama would later form the Bechuanaland Democratic Party (BDP) in 1960. The party would go on to win the first democratic elections in Btswana. Khama became Prime Minister and later, on 30 September 1966, President of the newly declared Republic of Botswana.

The Longest serving president

Sir Ketumile Quett Joni Masire(24 July 1926 – 22 June 2017) was the second and longest-serving President of Botswana, having served since the death of Sir Seretse Khama in 1980.

Masire who was honored with the Knighthood of the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II in 1990, was a leading figure in the independence movement and then the new government. Before succeeding Khama, Masire was Vice President.

The third President

Festus Gontebanye Mogae, born August 21, 1939 in Serowe, took over as the third President when Masire stepped down in 1998. An economist, Mogae took a first degree at University College, Oxford, and a master’s in development economics from the University of Sussex, Brighton, England. In 1968 he joined the Development Planning (Finance and Development Planning).

In 1976 he was recruited by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., as alternate executive and then executive director for Anglophone Africa. He returned home to serve as governor of the central bank of Botswana (1980–81) and as permanent secretary (1982–89) to Masire. In 1989 Mogae became a politician in the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) after which he was named minister of finance and development planning. He was appointed Masire’s vice president in 1992 after the resignation of Peter Mmusiand would succeed Masire in 1998.

The fourth President

In 2008 Mogae’s second and final term came to an end and his Vice President, founding president’s son Lt Gen Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama took over.

Former Army Chief, Khama was recruited from the Botswana Defence Force to be VP, an unprecedented move in the BDP custom which was expected to quell divisions in the party.

The first born son of Botswana’s founder President, the late Sir Seretse Khama was born on the 27th of February 1953 in Surrey, England. In 1973 Khama joined the paramilitary Police Mobile Unit, which later became Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and became Deputy Commander in April 1977. In April 1998 Lieutenant General Khama retired from the Botswana Defence Force as Commander to join

He was appointed Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration and was later nominated for Vice President by President Festus Mogae. In 2008 Khama became the fourth president of the Republic of Botswana.

The current President

Dr Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi is the fifth and current President of Botswana since 2018. He was born in 21 July 1961. He served as the 8th Vice President of Botswana from 12 November 2014 to 1 April 2018. He was a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly for the MoshupaManyana constituency from 2009 to 2018.

Two years into his presidency the country and the world at large was hit by the Covid19 pandemic resulting in lockdowns that affected the economy and livelihoods.