Central bank’s first female governor

Botswana’s President Festus Mogae made history in Southern Africa this week when he appointed a woman to head the country’s central bank, reports said on Friday. Lena Mohohlo, 47, was appointed to replace Baledzi Gaolathe who was last week appointed Finance Minister in the new cabinet following the country’s recent elections that were convincingly won by Mogae’s Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). Mohohlo, who started working at the Bank of Botswana in 1976 as a secretary, holds a masters degree in finance and investment from Exeter University, Britain. She was one of Gaolathe’s two deputies before being appointed as governor. Mohohlo joins a growing band of women who occupy senior positions in Botswana’s government structures. One of her deputies at the Bank is a woman, while eight women are BDP members of parliament, five of whom are in Mogae’s newly-appointed cabinet. Mogae has also been reported as saying he plans to appoint more women as permanent secretaries, the highest rank in the country’s civil service.