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Ian Khama

Ian Khama
Ian Khama (2014) (cropped).jpg
4th President of Botswana
Assumed office
1 April 2008
Vice President Mompati Merafhe
Ponatshego Kedikilwe
Mokgweetsi Masisi
Preceded by Festus Mogae
Vice President of Botswana
In office
13 July 1998 – 1 April 2008
President Festus Mogae
Preceded by Festus Mogae
Succeeded by Mompati Merafhe
Personal details
Born Seretse Khama
(1953-02-27) 27 February 1953 (age 63)
Chertsey, England, UK
Political party Democratic Party
Parents Seretse Khama (father)
Ruth Williams Khama (mother)
Alma mater Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Military service
Allegiance  Botswana
Years of service 1977–1998
Rank Lieutenant General
Commands Botswana Defence Force

Seretse Khama Ian Khama (or Ian a Serêtsê; born 27 February 1953) is a Botswana politician who has been the President of Botswana since 2008. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence Force, he entered politics and served as Vice-President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008, then succeeded Festus Mogae as President on 1 April 2008. He won a full term in the 2009 election and was re-elected in October 2014.

Ian Khama is the first-born son and second child of Sir Seretse Khama (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980), who was the country's foremost independence leader and President from 1966 to 1980, and Lady Khama. He was born in Chertsey, Surrey during the period in which his father was exiled to the United Kingdom due to the opposition by the colonial government and the emergent apartheid regime in South Africa to his marriage to a white woman.

He is also the grandson of Sekgoma II (1869–1925), who was the paramount chief of the Bamangwato people, and the great-grandson of Khama III (1837–1923), their king; and the great-great grandson of Kgosikgolo Sekgoma I, the Chief of the Bamangwato people (1815–1885). The name "Seretse" means “the clay that binds together,” and was given to his father to celebrate the recent reconciliation of his father and grandfather; this reconciliation assured Seretse’s Khama's own ascension to the throne with his aged father’s death in 1925. Seretse Khama Ian Khama is named after his father to continue this historical legacy. He is also known simply as Ian Khama to differentiate between himself and his father. Tshekedi Khama II, Ian Khama's brother, was named after their great uncle, Tshekedi Khama who was the regent and guardian for Kgosi Seretse Khama, the first President of Botswana.


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