Botswana’s new president, Mokgweetsi Masisi has vowed to fix the country’s economy and tackle youth unemployment after taking his oath of office on Sunday.
Masisi who took over from Ian Khama told the country’s parliament that “We still seek to build a Botswana in which sustained development is underpinned by economic diversification.”
“One of my top priorities … will be to address the problem of unemployment especially amongst the young,” Masisi said.
Botswana has a population of some 2 million, but it has a jobless rate of around 20 percent, with youth unemployment thought to be much higher.
The retired teacher now president is now the country’s fifth president after it gained independence from Britain in 1966.
But the opposition has said that Masisi’s tenure would not bring any change since he had been part of the Khama administration as vice president.
“There is no need to celebrate, the change of guard will just be cosmetic. As vice president he… failed even at the time he was at the ministry of education,” UDC opposition coalition spokesperson, Moeti Mohwasa has said.
Source: Africafeeds.com
