Moses Pelaelo, one of the two deputy governors at Bank of Botswana (BoB) has been named the new governor of the central bank, replacing the outgoing Linah Mohohlo who retires next week.
The appointment of Pelaelo was confirmed late Monday by BoB Head of Communications ÔÇô Andrew Sesinyi. According to Sesinyi, Pelaelo will resume his new role as central bank governor starting 21 October 2016.
Pelaelo’s name has been cropping up as one of the potential successors of Mohohlo ever since the departure of long serving Deputy Governor Oduetse Motshidisi earlier this year.
The Bank of Botswana did not take long to replace Motshidisi, who sent shockwaves through the financial sector with his resignation in February 2016. The BoB then announced that Andrew Motsomi will replace Motshidisi, sparking speculation that he was being groomed to take over the Central Bank top post. Of the two deputy governors, Motsomi was believed to be the favourite of Mohohlo as such seen as the possible heir to the throne.
However, on Monday Sesinyi confirmed the name of Pelaelo as the “preferred” one by the appointing authority ÔÇô President Ian Khama.
Pelaelo joined the Bank of Botswana in 1990 as Senior Bank Examiner in the Banking Supervision Department following a 6-year career as Assistant Lecturer and Lecturer in accounting and management study programmes at the Botswana Institute of Administration and Commerce and University of Botswana. He was promoted to the position of Principal Bank Examiner in 1991; then to Deputy Director in 1994 and to Director in 1996 in the then Administrative Services Department, where he was responsible for human resources, property management and other administrative functions of the Bank.
According to the bank, he was promoted to the position of Director of Banking Supervision Department. In 2003, he took a three-year sabbatical and joined the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel (Switzerland), and continued to expand and deepen his knowledge of banking regulation, supervision and financial stability. Upon his return, Pelaelo was then appointed Deputy Governor in 2006 and has had overarching responsibility for banking regulation and supervision, payment infrastructure and oversight, banking & currency, accounting, security and other support services.
