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Botswana former president Sir Ketumile Masire

Gaborone — Former Botswana leader Sir Ketumile Masire “was a workaholic whose obsession was farming and food production”, ex-president Festus Mogae has reportedly said.

Mogae said this during the memorial for Masire yesterday.

Masire died in hospital last week at the age of 91.

According to BBC, Mogae, who claimed he worked under Masire for 20 years said:  “He (Masire) would ring at 03:00 and say ‘by the way did we agree we would do this next week?’”

“The only time I did not report to him was when I was president myself when he became a consultant free of charge,” he said.

Several African dignitaries were in the capital Gaborone to attend the memorial and funeral service. Masire would be buried in his home village, Kanye today.

He was the president of Botswana from 1980 to 1998.

Masire led various diplomatic initiatives in Africa, including chairing a panel that investigated the 1994 Rwanda genocide, and co-ordinating the Inter-Congolese National Dialogue. — AFP