By Kefiloe Kajane
The Institute of Directors (IoD) Lesotho will on August 11 officially launch a corporate governance code called ‘Mohlomi Corporate Governance Code’ which will be effective from March 2022.
This is in order to efficiently and effectively fulfil their mandate of leading good corporate governance advocacy across all sectors in the socio-economic landscape of Lesotho.
The code was developed with the financial assistance of the African Development Bank to a tune of M1.2-million through facilitation and support of the government of Lesotho’s ministry of finance.
The IoD Lesotho’s chairman Lejone Mpotjoane this week said the code will provide a robust framework for good corporate governance standards and guidelines while documenting the values and principles that the Basotho nation was founded on.
He explained that will further enhance companies and organization’s propensity to adhere to the laws of Lesotho and best business practices broadly.
He further said the institutional investors will also commit to impactful investments aligned to sustainable socio-economic development.
“The launch of the Mohlomi Corporate Governance Code is long overdue as the code was finalized in the first quarter of 2020. However, the year 2020 was characterized by a series of nationwide lockdowns necessitated by the state of emergency which was declared by the government of Lesotho in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic that threatened life and economic activity across the world. This state of affairs delayed all efforts by the institute to launch the code,” he said.
The chairman of Mohlomi Corporate Governance Code Robert Likhang said the general agreement is that corporate governance results into greater value creation, not only to investors but to the community, employees as well as the government in both short and long term.
He said Lesotho is faced with the challenge to grow its economy by ensuring that unemployment figures decline, adding that it has been proven that good corporate governance is the panacea for economic growth.
He further said that the corporate governance does not have universal rules although having universal purpose. He said each jurisdiction sets out its governance structures like code and regulations that are aligned with social circumstances.
“The aim is to make Lesotho great again, an exporter of goods and services. The experts came from different institutions like Central Bank of Lesotho, Lesotho National Development Corporation, government as well as different professional bodies such as Lesotho Institute of Accountants, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Institute of Internal Auditors, all under the auspices of our very own IoD Lesotho.
“No other philosopher in Africa could stand in competition with Chief Mohlomi, not only the political philosopher, but a healer, a trainer, a rain maker and a peace maker. We owe our being as a nation when he trained leaders like Moshoeshoe to become a great leader. His trainings went as far up as Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. He ran the first university of leadership in the land of Basotho called Ngolilwe, now called Clocolan, when later taken over by the white settlers.
“Basotho took their slogan ‘Khotso! Pula! Nala!’ from him and the slogan was a prayer a dream and a live-style of the Basotho people and their great leader Moshoeshoe I a student of Mohlomi. There is a lot that’s been written about this great leader and such writings can be found in institutions such as the University of the Free State and the University of Stellenbosch.
“The code is made up of 22 principles divided into six clusters which address the issues of leadership facilitating effectiveness and sustainable development of the country. The code is applicable to all organizations and listed companies which we hope Maseru Stock Market will embrace by NGOs, and even churches,” he said.
