GABORONE, Nov 2 (NNN-XINHUA) – Botswana President, Mokgweetsi Masisi, pledged to fight corruption by promoting transparency in the southern African country’s institutional frameworks.
Botswana inaugurated Masisi for the second time in exactly 18 months after an election, following his initial inauguration as the country’s fifth president on Apr 1 last year.
“We cannot hope for neither service delivery nor achieve any of our national objectives, if our institutional frameworks are not robust, transparent, and accountable and free from corruption,” said Masisi in his inauguration speech, following his swearing in by the country’s chief justice in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital city.
The 58-year-old leader, who has been speaking against corruption, after taking over from his predecessor, former President Seretse Khama Ian Khama, early last year, told the inauguration, that included foreign heads of states and members of the diplomatic corps, that his intention is not to relent on doing so.
In Aug this year, Botswana’s national assembly passed the declaration of assets and liabilities bill into a law, in a development viewed by many political commentators as a giant step towards dealing with corruption.
The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) won the Oct 23 poll after garnering 38 seats in the national assembly, representing 66.7 percent of the vote.
The main opposition, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), secured 15 seats, while the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF), which is the brainchild of Masisi’s immediate predecessor, won three and the Alliance for Progressive (AP) only one.
Since independence from Britain in 1966, Botswana’s economy has grown at eight percent a year to become one of Africa’s most successful economies, but it is now at risk of coming unstuck because of over-reliance on a single commodity – diamonds.– NNN-XINHUA