Botswana -

At the beginning of this month, I visited Botswana for official duty. This is a quiet, efficient, yet unassuming nation. It occupies an area of 600,370 sq. km with a population of 2.3 million only. The country rarely makes it on the international news. According to the Global Stats, between June 2018 and June 2019, Botswana’s mention on twitter was at 6.82%, on YouTube at 5.22%, on Pinterest at 35.88% and Facebook at 50.37%. Gaborone, the capital city sits largely still and silent. Uganda is only 241,037 Sq. km. Nonetheless, the World Bank estimates the population of Uganda as of 2017, to be 42.96 Million. The population of Kampala alone is projected to be 1, 650,800. Gaborone is therefore the opposite of my densely populated and noisy Kampala.

 

The GDP of Botswana was worth 18.62 billion USD in 2018 which represents 0.03 % of the world economy. This is an all-time high since 1962. The GDP of Uganda is expected to be 28.50 USD by the end of this quarter and was worth 27.48 billion in 2018. Both countries have invested heavily in infrastructure among other projects and it is evident. I must confess that I was greatly impressed by the quality of the buildings and other projects in Botswana. The Sir Seretse Khama International Airport, though small was well organised. The University of Botswana, the road network, the central business district, the new High Court building, the malls, were all quite outstanding.  The general environment of the city was clean, the traffic was manageable, there were no bajaj (boda boda) cycles, and there was an air of orderliness in the city. It was clear that someone was doing things right in Gaborone and we need to pick a huge leaf from them

High Court Building

Life though slow paced, continues to go on in Gaborone. Whereas I was surprised to find stores like Game closed at 4 p.m. on Saturdays, and whereas it felt spooky to see very few people in the shopping malls, the humidity, dust and littering in Kampala are quickly forgotten here.  Nothing here prepares you for the silence and cleanliness of these streets and the markets. I must confess that I prefer the hustle and bustle of downtown Kampala. I was however comfortable in the presence of welcoming faces and helpful individuals. In total, I was generally impressed by what I saw in the few areas of Botswana that I visited. I had heard many stories about the way Botswana is well run and organised. I am glad to have visited and seen this with my own eyes- albeit to limited extent.   That said, i will not miss the chilly winter weather or the desert.