Botswana’s President, Duma Boko Has Slashed Politicians’ Pay And Raised Worker Wages
On July 16, 2025, a Facebook user @Afrocania made the claim that Botswana’s newly elected president, Duma Boko, is emulating Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, by significantly cutting political salaries and increasing wages for ordinary workers. The post had images of Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso’s Leader and the President of Botswana Duma Boko, with the caption “Breaking
When this report was published, this claim had about 14,845 likes, comments and shares.
VERIFICATION
Duma Boko was elected Botswana’s president on November 1, 2024, after his party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), defeated the long-ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in the general elections. Under Boko’s leadership, the UDC pledged several reforms, especially aimed at addressing unemployment, income inequality, and perceived elite privileges. These campaign promises included implementing a P4,000 (4,000 Botswana Pula) minimum living wage and reducing unnecessary government expenditure, including bloated salaries and benefits for political officeholders.
Reports have reflected that private organisations like Choppies have launched the P4 000 living wage for their staff members.
In December 2024, the newly elected government announced that it would suspend all salary increases for Members of Parliament and councillors, reversing earlier plans under former President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s government to raise MP salaries by 15 percent. However, there is no evidence in public records or media reporting that this has been implemented and politicians have actually experienced any reduction from their preexisting salaries.
Despite the UDC’s manifesto pledges to raise the national minimum wage to P4,000, as of July 2025, no binding legislation has been passed. It has encouraged private companies to adopt the new wage voluntarily. Trade unions and civil society have publicly urged the government to enforce the pledge through law, pointing out that corporate adoption alone is insufficient to protect workers.
CONCLUSION
The claim that Botswana under President Duma Boko has slashed politician pay and raised worker wages is MISLEADING. While the government has frozen proposed salary increases for MPs and councillors, it has not implemented a reduction of their current pay. Also, the P4,000 (4,000 Botswana Pula) living wage which was a key campaign promise has not been legislated.
