MOKGWEETSI Masisi, Botswana’s new president, wants the southern African nation to wean itself off diamond revenue.
Masisi, a retired teacher, takes over from former army general, Ian Khama, and is only Botswana’s third leader outside the Khama dynasty since its independence from Britain in 1966, said Reuters. He was sworn in on Sunday.
“We still seek to build a Botswana in which sustained development is underpinned by economic diversification,” Reuters quoted Masisi to have said. He added: “One of my top priorities … will be to address the problem of unemployment especially amongst the young”. This could be achieved by diversifying the country’s economy, he said.
However, Masisi faces a huge task in attempting to reduce its dependence on the diamond trade while creating more jobs after collapsing commodity prices tipped it into recession in 2015, said Reuters.
