Africa-Press – Botswana. Education remains the only hope that can transform the lives of the people of Africa, says Vice President Slumber Tsogwane.
Mr Tsogwane was among Heads of State and Government that attended the 37th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly themed; Educate an African Tit for the 21st Century; Building Resilient Education Systems for Increased Access to Inclusive, Lifelong, Quality and Relevant Learning in Africa.
He said in an interview after the opening ceremony of the summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Saturday that the theme resonated well with Botswana’s development trajectory of channelling vast financial resources to the education sector with a view to yank people from abject poverty.
“We need an education system that can transform the lives of our people and make them resilient to challenges and be able to compete at a global stage,” he said, adding that the government of Botswana was trying to fine-tune the education system through digitalisation to make its learners globally competitive.
On the election of the Bureau of the assembly of the AU for the year 2024 and the chairpersonship of the union for the year 2024, Vice President Tsogwane expressed contentment, saying all went well.
In fact he divulged that Botswana, which was supposed to assume the AU chair by virtue of it being voted as the second vice chair of the union had, due to pressing issues back at home, negotiated with Angola to hold the fort until such a time when Botswana was ready to resume its responsibilities.
During the announcement of the chairperson of the AU for the year 2024 as well as the Bureau of the Assembly of the same for the year 2024, Mauritania came out tops while Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana were announced first, second and third vice chairs respectively.
On others, Mr Tsogwane was happy about progress made by Botswana in as far as the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement was concerned, saying the future looked bright.
In his welcome remarks, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr Moussa Mahamat paid homage to the fallen President of Namibia, Dr Hage Geingob, whom he described as ‘militant and combatant.
He mentioned peace, political instability, climate change, poverty as existential huddles that negated further development of the mother land and her people.
“Not only have social inequalities widened, injustices have multiplied, but hegemony and the absurd desire to resolve our differences by brutal and vain force prevail publicly before the eyes of all,” he said.
He sighted Gaza in Palestine as one such blatant case where people were almost exterminated in tens of thousands, humiliated in their dignity and robbed of their rights.
He also mentioned the Russia/Ukraine war, which continued to rage to a great detriment of all the people of the world.
Terrorism in Africa and unconstitutional changes of government that had multiplied in total defiance of the entire political order that founded the African Union, Mr Mahamat said needed to be dealt with right away.
“Never since the establishment of the AU has such a number of transitions, following unconstitutional change taken place in Africa, our failure to counter such a phenomenon is obvious,” he stated, adding that effective solution ought to be made soon to the many challenges bedevilling Africa and the rest of the globe.
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