Marais na Viongozi Duniani: December 2013

Friday 27 December 2013

Queen Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary is the constitutional Monarch of 16 sovereign states, known as the Commonwealth reals, and their territories and dependencies, and heat of the 53 - member commonwealth of Nations. She is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England and, in some of her realms, carries the additional title of Defender of the Faith. She was born on 21 April 1926 in London and educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne as George VI in 1936 on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake public duties during the second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial service.

Queen Elizabeth is the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later Queen Elizabeth). Her father was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary. Queen Elizabeth II was named Elizabeth after her mother.

Queen Elizabeth II's only sibling, Princess Margaret, was four years younger. The two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as "Crawfie". Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music.

Queen Elizabeth II is married to Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, with whom she has four children; Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward. Her coronation service took place in 1953 and was the first to be televised. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were married on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey.

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip

Queen Elizabeth II with her grandson Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton

Sunday 22 December 2013

Angela Merkel

Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German politician and former research scientist, who has been the chancellor of Germany since 2005 and the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2000. She is the first woman to hold either office. Angela Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner in Hamburg, West Germany, on 17 July 1954. She is the daughter of Horst Kasner (1926 - 2011), a native of Berlin, and his wife Herlind, born in 1928 in Danzig as Herlind Jentzsch, a teacher of English and Latin. Her mother was once a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

Angel Merkel has some Polish ancestry as her paternal grandfather, Ludwig Kazmierczak, was a German, of Polish origin. In 1977, Angela Kasner married physics student Ulrich Merkel and took his surname. The marriage ended in divorce in 1982. Her second and current husband is quantum chemist and professor Joachim Sauer, who has largely remained out of the media spotlight. Angel Merkel and professor Joachim Sauer married privately on 30 December 1998. She has no children but Professor Joachim Sauer has two adult sons from a previous marriage.

Chancellor Angela Merkel

Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband, Professor Joachim Sauer

Chancellor Angela Merkel with her mother, Herlind Kasner

Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband, Professor Joachim Sauer (right) with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (second left) and his wife Samantha (left)

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of France Francois Hollande

Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband, Professor Joachim Sauer (right) with President of USA Barack Obama (second left) and his wife Michelle Obama (left)

Chancellor Angela Merkel with the families of German soldiers and police officers serving abroad

Saturday 21 December 2013

Ian Khama

I an Khama is a Batswana politician who has been the President of Botswana since 2008. He is also the de facto Paramount Chief of the Bamangwato tribe. He entered politics after serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence Force. He served as Vice-President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008, then succeeded Festus Mogae as President on 1 April 2008.

Ian Khama is a second child of Lady Ruth Khama and Sir Seretse Khama who was the country's foremost independence leader and president from 1966 to 1980. He was born on 27 February 1953, in Chertsey, Surrey, United Kingdom 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. His mother, Lady Ruth Khama was a British.

Ian Khama 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).

Ian Khama is an alumnus of Waterford Kamhalaba, a United World College in Mbabane, Swaziland. He is also a qualified Pilot and attended Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where the British Army trains its officers.

President Ian Khama

President Ian Khama with the US President Barack Obama

John Dramani Mahama

John Dramani Mahama is a Ghanaian politician who has been President of Ghana since July 2012. He was born on 29 November 1958. He was the Vice President of Ghana from 2009 to 2012. He took office as President on 24th July 2012 following the death of his predecessor, President John Atta Mills. He was elected to serve his first term as president in December 2012 election. John Dramani Mahama is a communication expert, historian and writer. He was a member of Parliament from 1997 to 2009 and Minister of Communications from 1998 to 2001.

His father, Emmanuel Adama Mahama, a wealthy rice farmer and teacher was the first Member of Parliament for the West Gonja constituency and the first Regional Commissioner of the Northern Region during the First Republic under the Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah. His father also served as a senior presidential advisor during Ghana's Third Republic under Hilla Limann.

President John Dramani Mahama had his early education at Achimota School and then proceeded to Ghana Secondary School, Tamale Northern region and the University of Ghana, Legon, receiving a Bachelor's degree in history in 1981 and a postgraduate diploma in communication studies in 1986. He also studied at the Institute of Social Sciences, Moscow in the then Soviet Union, specializing in social psychology, obtaining a postgraduate degree in 1988.

After completing his undergraduate education President John Dramani Mahama taught History at the secondary school level for a few years. Upon his return to Ghana after studying in Moscow, he worked as the information, Culture and Research Officer at the Embassy of Japan in Accra between 1991 and 1995.

President John Dramani Mahama is married to Lordina Mahama and has seven children.