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"Mogae "did a lot," Baile said. "He is not a person who abuses his power. He has been fair and honest to the nation."
As I postulated in my article titled "Aporia:Africa's Demo-Dictators", Festus Mogae is simply a rare gem in the festering African political landscape!
PETER W.VAKUNTA
DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON
602 VAN HISE HALL
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"The day will come when history will speak... Africa will write its own history... it will be a history of glory and dignity." - Patrice Lumumba
----- Original Message -----
From: Aggo Akyea <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, March 31, 2008 8:57 pm
Subject: Re: Another Smooth Transition for Botswana
To: [log in to unmask]
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> RENEW YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP WITH AAM!!!!
>
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> MEMBERSHIP PERIOD:OCTOBER 1 - SEPTEMBER 30
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>
> Congratulations to the people of Botswana, and their wise leaders.
> Lessons for Zimbabwe and all of Africa.
>
> Thanks for sharing.
>
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> Aggo Akyea
> http://akyea.tribalpages.com/
> Check my photos at:
> www.flickr.com/photos/peki
>
> "Instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my
> baskets,
> I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them."
> WALDEN by Henry David Thoreau – 1854
>
>
>
> Another Smooth Transition for Botswana
>
>
> By CELEAN JACOBSON
> Associated Press Writer
> 2:21 PM EDT, March 31, 2008
> GABORONE, South Africa
>
>
> Botswana's president steps down Tuesday, handing over power in the
> kind of smooth transition for which the country is known -- one that
> contrasts sharply with the political turmoil in neighboring Zimbabwe.
>
> On a continent where leaders are all too often accused of holding on
> long past their mandate, Festus Mogae, 69, is giving up power before
> the end of his second term. That allows his vice president, Seretse
> Ian Khama, a former army commander and the son of Botswana first's
> president, to run as an incumbent in elections next year.
>
> "I retire a proud citizen," Mogae said at a farewell rally held by
> the ruling Botswana Democratic Party< on Saturday. "Let me advise
> those leaders in similar circumstances: Leave when the time for you to
> leave comes, and you will be embraced with love by your people."
>
> While Mogae may claim to set a standard for democracy in Africa,
> democracy activists and opposition members here complain about
> "automatic succession." The Botswana Democratic Party, in power since
> the former British protectorate gained independence in 1966, virtually
> anoints the next head of state. The party is expected to continue its
> dominance in the face of a weak and divided opposition.
>
> "The danger is that it provides for a dynastic succession which has
> been the trend since Seretse Khama," said Chris Maroleng from the
> Institute for Strategic Studies in South Africa.
>
> The shortcomings in Botswana's system though seem trivial in
> comparison to the allegations against leaders elsewhere in Africa.
>
> In neighboring Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is accused of marshaling fraud
> and intimidation to grab a victory in weekend presidential elections.
> Official election results are trickling out, heightening fears the
> vote tally would be rigged.
>
> "Botswana does fall short of some Western notions of what a democracy
> is. But in terms of the rest of the continent it is a democratic
> state," Maroleng said, adding that elections are held regularly, and
> parliament and the judiciary are seen as independent.
>
> Mogae, an Oxford-educated economist who came to power in 1998 and was
> re-elected in 2004, has presided over a decade of economic growth and
> political stability in Botswana.
>
> The sparsely populated country the size of Texas< is the world's
> largest producer of diamonds, which has transformed it from one of the
> world's poorest countries to one of the wealthiest in the region.
>
> Mogae drove a campaign to ensure Botswana benefits more from its
> mineral wealth, venturing into cutting and polishing diamonds instead
> of just exporting uncut stones and leaving most of the profit taking
> to foreigners.
>
> His tenure has not been without its critics however -- Mogae has been
> dogged by controversy over the removal of the indigenous San
> communities from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
>
> In 2005 Mogae ordered the deportation of Australian professor Kenneth
> Good, who criticized the president and who had close links with an
> international group lobbying for San rights.
>
> Mogae is likely to be best remembered for tackling the country's high
> HIV/AIDS infection rates, which are among the worst in the world. He
> has taken an AIDS test publicly and addressed the issue in almost
> every one of his speeches. Lifesaving anti-retroviral drugs are known
> locally as "Mogae's tablets."
>
> "He has been the face of the issue," said Alice Mogwe, director of
> the Botswana Center for Human Rights.
>
> Today, the number of children being infected with HIV by their
> mothers has dropped from 40 percent to 4 percent and anti-AIDS drugs
> reach nearly all those in need.
>
> Sadzani Baile, manager of a Gaborone restaurant, lists the fight
> against AIDS as one of Mogae's greatest achievements, along with
> attracting foreign investment and marketing the countries diamonds.
>
> Mogae "did a lot," Baile said. "He is not a person who abuses his
> power. He has been fair and honest to the nation."
>
>
>
> Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
> may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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