This week we catch up with Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane, Leader of the Popular Front for Democracy (PFD). He tells us about his party’s vision for Lesotho, and how he thinks national affairs should be best handled.
FULL VIDEO:
What exactly does the PFD stand for and what kind of Lesotho does it envision? Also, why should Basotho vote for the party?
We believe that given our thinking and much more importantly, the history of the PFD and our involvement in different spheres of the lives of our people, we deserve to be elected or at least be given a substantial and significant vote, which will make us one of the key players in the government of Lesotho. We have been a party pursuing constitutional democracy; in fact, that is exactly our name, which also implies that we are looking at a myriad of forces that is why it is called a front.
I know we have never debated that concept, why are you the only one party that calls yourself a front? It’s because in terms of thinking it is the only a very broad front of democratic forces from all angles and permutations that would help this country to move forward. So, our appeal to those different forces, to those different formations, it is the one that we think finally will win the day, because no single party on only its own without other formations of the society which are necessarily not political parties, can purse the question of power more. Our interest is the issues of bread and butter. Although a political party may clam in that it is pursuing that, but we know its main involvement power, and all its energy is consumed by that and the ABC is a classical example of people who precisely because they were only coming mainly for power and access for resources that seem to be the only deal.
Another aspect is our anti-corruption stance; we have pioneered even the whole declaration of assets.
I know that it has never become what we were believing in, thank goodness I am now again the minister of DCEO who is supposed to be driving anti-corruption. I have brought the new regulations where all sorts of people will start declaring up to end of June.
Delimitation of constituencies. This is topic that has caused a very visible diversion of views among the political parties is the demarcation of constituencies. What is the PFD’s position on the matter and your reasons?
At the beginning of 2018 there was a deliberate effort that was done by political parties to study the demarcation, you know of course the desktop kind of research.
One of the things we have discovered is that we are the only country in the world where when you are looking for a quota you divide the voting population with the number of constituencies.
The worldwide practice is that you divide the whole population because if you do that certain age groups can be distorted in certain areas, which is exactly some of the things you will find in Lesotho now; that if you will only you say it is only this population we are only taking a certain age, you will have that distortion because that age might not be there, that people migrate to other areas but still have homes there. So we found that we are the only country so which means people who did that never understood how constituencies, they didn’t apply their mint scientifically to how constituencies are done in the world.
They just thought that, ok because we have this people who are going to vote so if you bring the constituency let’s find how many voters not the real population of the people who live there, whom the member of parliament is going to be giving service to so that’s the first thing we got. The second one is what we call the tolerance limit between the constituencies; in other words, what is the difference between constituencies?
One issue that has always topped the agenda in Lesotho is the issue of poverty and unemployment, particularly youth unemployment? How does the PFD plan to address it?
Yes, that is the most explosive, especially youth unemployment. Our approach has always been that unemployment is exacerbated by the fact that we do not produce anything for the market. We have made several attempts including where if people want to be licensed, we should make a condition that there is a quota for certain Lesotho products to be sold in the business. We want special attention to be given to young people’s education. The National Manpower Development Secretariat needs to be reformed if we are to tackle youth unemployment
We have seen an escalation of corruption in recent years, which has eroded the people confident and interest in the system. Does the PFD have a solution to that?
We are known to be an anti-corruption party. We are also very clear on measures we want to be enforced. For example, we need a very good chairperson of the committee on ethics. Parliament should be the starting point of eradicating corruption but sadly, political parties are dragging their feet on this.
What about crime? We have seen an unprecedented rise in murder statistics. Does the PFD have a solution to the rampant crime in the country?
That is a difficult one, especially with the culture of these famo groups which are aligned to certain political parties. So how can we rid ourselves of crime when people who are supposed to fight crime serve as a hideout for these criminal groups?These people are shielded by political parties. Then we have the ‘manomoro’. I believe there is an economic aspect to it. People do bad things out of desperation, poverty and others. Crime can be combatted by empowering anti-crime groups, starting with community policing groups.
There is a belief that Lesotho’s education system irrelevant and out of touch with modern day needs and challenges. What is the PFD’s position on this?
We completely agree with that. We believe there is a need for reforms in the education sector. Our education should be towards production. It’s a pity that the new school curriculum could do more damage than the good it was intended for, but it was done with good intentions. So education must also be made part and parcel of our production system.
There is growing discomfort at the growing influence of the Chinese in Lesotho’s affairs. Do you share this sentiment?
Indeed, they have been institutionalised in some areas. When I got to the ministry of tourism I found Ntate John there having been given ‘Manthabiseng Conventional Centre and I took him. People need resources to win election so they want the millions from the Chinese while at the same of selling the country. People also abdicate their authority for the sake of money.
The thorny issue of amnesty for perpetrators of politically motivated offenses. Where does the PFD’s stand in this matter and what is the best way to handle it?
We are not against reconciliation, in principle. Amnesty would just be one of the instruments that we use if we agree on it.
