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Ian Khama 4th President of Botswana

This country is located in southern Africa, right above South Africa. It is landlocked and is slightly smaller than Texas with 581,730 sq km. It has a semiarid climate, and suffers most from overgrazing, desertification, and a limited supply of fresh water. Its main natural resource, diamonds, also accounts for half of the government's income**.** Economically, Botswana has the highest growth rate since independence. Industry fell nearly 30% in 2007-08, but by 2010 became a middle income country. Diamond mining also provides for a third of GDP. There are a total of 2,029,307 people living in Botswana. HIV/AIDS is a drastic problem, with more than 24% of people contracting it. This is one of the highest in the world. Christianity is the predominant religion, 71.6%, and while English is the country's official language, 78.2% speak Setswana.
 * Botswana**

Khama started out as Commander of the Botswana Defense Force. He then stepped down, and in 1998 was appointed as the new Vice-President, as well as the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration. He assumed office on April 1, 2008.
 * Employment History**

__Safety and Rule of Law: 88__ Personal Safety: 70 Rule of law: 97 Accountability and Corruption: 89 National Security: 96
 * 4 Benchmarks**

Out of the four categories, Safety and Rule of Law is the one Botswana scored the highest in. Within this category, Personal Safety is the lowest. This is because while social unrest and disorder is rare, petty street crime and crimes of opportunity is often seen. Reports are frequently given to police about home invasions and cell phone thefts at knife point. Next, Rule of Law is quite high, since Botswana’s judicial system is strong. Recently, the Chief of Justice, Julian Mukwesu Nganunu, retired, as Khama assembled a team of medical experts to determine if he was suffering from ill health. Despite this, Rule of Law came in at 97. The country was named the least corrupt in Africa, according to the Transparency International, saying that the government has led by example. Lastly, National Security includes International Tensions, which Khama has been directly involved in. His straightforward approach has been popular, as he condemns the democratic abuses by Zimbabwe President, Robert Mugabe, and most recently, severing Libya ties.

__Particiaption and Human Right: 69__ Participation: 74 Rights: 58 Gender: 75

At 69, Participation and Human Rights is the lowest category for Botswana. In Participation, strength of democracy and electoral self-determination is included. The former Botswana is somewhat successful in, as it is politically stable with a multiparty democracy, but recently critics denounce it, saying that the country is becoming a dynasty and that democracy is under threat. As for the election process, Botswana enjoys a high turnout rate as well as free and fair voting. The second subcategory, Rights, encompasses freedoms of expression, human rights, and civil liberties. Their constitution grants the people with the freedom of expression, which the government usually respects. However, problems consist of poor prison conditions, restrictions on press freedom, and discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS. Gender equality scored a 75. In terms of education, girls and boys have equal access, but girls are likely to drop out of secondary school due to pregnancy. Literacy between girl and boys is also virtually equal. In Parliament, there are only four women versus the 57 men. President Khama spoke out in worry, saying he is committed to seeing more women in key positions.

__Sustainable Economic Opportunity: 70__ Public Management: 77 Private Sector: 84 Infrastructure: 50 Environment and the Rural Sector: 69

At 70, Sustainable Economic Opportunity does quite well. Public Management, the first subcategory, consists of the Gross Domestic Product, as well as public debt. The GDP of Botswana is $26.56 billion, and the public debt is 22.6% of the GDP as of 2010. Private Sector involves businesses, trading, and credit. According to “Doing Business”, sponsored by the International Finance Corporation, Botswana is 52nd out of 183 countries in Ease of Doing Business, 90 in Starting a Business, and 151 in Trading Across Borders. All of these figures have dropped compared to the 2010 rankings. As for credit, Botswana was named the best credit risk in Africa by major investment services. Infrastructure, particularly electricity and the internet, came in at a low 50. Only 22% of the population has access to electricity, and only 6% use the internet. Lastly, agriculture makes up the final subcategory. Khama strongly supports the growth of agriculture, and since the start of his presidency has launched programs such as Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agriculture Development, providing farmers with assistance in the areas of seed, fertilizer, ploughing, and water. By doing this, Khama hopes to develop commercial farming, therefore reducing the need for imported food.

__Human Development: 77__ Health and Welfare: 78 Education: 75

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Finally, the last category, Human Development, achieved a 77. The first subcategory, Health and Welfare, scored a 78, and contains people with HIV, welfare, and degree of social exclusion. Botswana is infamous for its HIV/AIDS rate, infecting more than one in three adults, which is second in the country. The disease has made many children parent-less, and has severely cut life expectancy. However, it now has one of Africa’s most-advanced treatment programs. Over $340 million was spent on the AIDS epidemic, with the Botswana government supplying 66% of the funding. This is much greater that other African countries’ government, who rely on foreign donors. The private organization, ACHAP, funded by Bill and Melinda Gates and the Merck Foundation, continues to provide money and antiretroviral drugs. Next, Education comes in at 75. Things like education provision and the primary education enrollment rate fall under this subcategory. Education receives 8.1% of the GDP, and 81.2% of the population is literate. For primary school, 84% is enrolled in primary school, and 55.9% is enrolled in secondary school.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Festus Mogae (Preceded Khama as President) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Mogae significantly helped Khama become President today. Khama, already a member of the Botswana Democratic Party, ran for Chairman, and succeeded. This was made possible by current President Mogae’s backing. When he stepped down, Khama was next in line for presidency.
 * References**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">South Africa (Jacob Zuma) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">South Africa agrees with Botswana’s condemnation of Zimbabwe’s oppression of people. President Robert Mugabe has been blamed for economic problems, specifically that Zimbabwe is now one of the poorest countries in the world, which has led to starvation.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Namibia (Hifikepunye Pohamba) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These two countries are friendly, and together work on economic development. Both have high commission is each other’s capitals. Despite border disagreements, they depend on each other economically, such as Namibia extracting coal from Botswana, and Botswana buying several tons of ivory from Namibia.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*2009 Ibrahim Index: Botswana
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Works Cited **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*2010 Ibrahim Index of African Governance: Country Rankings and Scores

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Biles, Peter. "Botswana: Africa's Success Story?" BBC News. BBC. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Botswana." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, 6 Mar. 2007. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"CIA - The World Factbook." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Ease of Doing Business in Botswana." Doing Business. The World Bank. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Education in Botswana." SACMEQ. Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"HIV and AIDS in Botswana." AVERTing HIV and AIDS. AVERT. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sikuka, Kizito. "Botswana: First Women Speaker for Parliament." Africa Files. Africa Files, 15 Oct. 2009. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"State of the Nation Address by His Excellency Lt. Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama." Ian Khama – The President of Botswana. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Zembowicz, Filip. "Healthy progress: Botswana takes on AIDS." Harvard International Review 30.2 (2008): 8+. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.