Masire was born in Kanye. He worked as teacher and headmaster of the Seepapisto Secondary School from 1949 to 1955. In 1962 he was the co-founder of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). In 1965, partyleader Seretse Khama was elected prime minister of Botswana. After the independence of Botswana in 1966, he became Vice President of Botswana.
After President Seretse Khama died on 13 July1980, Quett Masire was elected President of Botswana (18 July). Under Masire, Botswana remained a democratic and non-rassistic society. In 1998 he stepped down.
After his retirement as president he has been active in diplomacy, acting as a mediator in the civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Quett KetumileMasire (born 1925) was a leading nationalist politician during Botswana's transition to independence.
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Masire's leadership was the award he received in 1989 from the Hunger Project in recognition of the improvement in nutritional levels throughout the country between 1981 and 1988, despite the onset of severe drought.
Masire was the 1989 Laureate of the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger, and was cited for his sustaining efforts to develop nutrition, health, education and housing.
Masire, Quett Ketumile Joni (1925-), President of Botswana (1980-1998).
As president, he laid the foundations for Botswana’s political and economic stability, valuing multi-party democratic structures and drawing on the...
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