By Mantṧali Phakoana
A fresh war of words has broken between government and the opposition, with each party accusing the other of political gamesmanship and deliberately delaying the implementation of national reforms.
The political and security reforms, which were midwifed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 2016 to usher in a new era of stability in Lesotho, are a result of discussions between political parties, civil society and other role players.
The reforms were initially scheduled to be completed and effected in 2022 but they have been put on ice by a catalogue of circumstances such as perennial squabbles between their handlers, and court battles.
The implementation of the reforms was incumbent upon the operationalisation of the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution Bill of 2022. The Bill was tabled in the last parliament by then minister of law and justice, Lekhetho Rakuoane, who is also leader of Popular Front for Democracy (PFD). After it was passed by parliament, a civil suit saw it overturned by the High Court of Lesotho.
Commonly known as the Omnibus Bill, it contains a proposed 90 amendments to the Constitution. The reforms focus on seven thematic areas; judiciary, constitution, public service, economy, media, parliament and security sector.
However, the reforms continue to be clouded in uncertainty in the current 11th parliament and have become a tool for political expediency and grandstanding.
Even though Prime Minister Samuel Matekane promised to effectively forge ahead with the reforms when he came to power after the October 7 2022 polls, his government’s commitment to the process has now become a subject of debate.
The opposition is now accusing the government of stalling on the reforms while it accuses the former of attempting to sabotage the process.
The 10th parliament has also been condemned for ‘betraying Basotho by intentionally delaying the long-awaited national reforms’.
At last week’s meeting with the opposition in Maseru, Matekane stated that following discussions with some stakeholders, they had agreed to apply three approaches in dealing with the reforms. These are simple majority, two-thirds majority and referendum respectively. This means the reforms can easily sail if the first two options are achieved in parliament. But the process will have to be put to referendum if the reforms fail to garner a two-thirds majority in the august house. The net effect of the last approach is that it will delay the much-needed reforms even further.
Thaba-Bosiu principal chief, Khoabane Theko says it is uncertain if the 11th parliament will make headway with the reforms.
He claimed the opposition leaders are hell-bent on delaying the reforms process, as evidenced by their challenging certain key government appointments.
“Even today I see unwillingness to cooperate on the part of the opposition leaders. As things are, they are demanding the Prime Minister stops filling some government positions, if he is expecting to apply the three mentioned voting categories. They (opposition) never cease to surprise me.
“It has always been the practice for our heads of government, from the days of Morena Leabua Jonathan, to use their powers to advise the King. However, that has led to leaders misusing their powers for their own benefit not for Basotho.
“To avoid that, it is imperative to speed up the process on the 11th Amendment of the Constitution Bill, to clip the Prime Minister of the power to advise the King on matters that are of concern to Basotho,” Khoabane added.
On other hand, Rakuoane described the Bill as ‘the most crucial tool to pass before restructuring the said sectors.
“We cannot talk about reforms when the enabling law does not exist. We can only talk about reforms when we have laws in place that prescribe how the implementation of the reforms will proceed.
“I think it would be senseless for the Prime Mister to suggest they will apply all the three voting categories in the reforms.
“It would not be possible to combine simple, two-thirds majority and referendum because particular clauses could still be entrenched in one Section,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) chairperson, Kananelo Boloetse used the occasion to mark World Press Freedom Day last week to point out that the implementation of the comprehensive national reforms which reflect the will of the people has always been and remains a top priority of MISA Lesotho.
“Prime Minister Matekane and his coalition partners committed to prioritising the reforms. However, over six months since the new government was installed, work in earnest to implement the reforms is yet to begin.
“While we understand that Prime Minister Matekane’s government faces a shopping list of problems, we call on it to prioritise reforms as it promised and take meaningful steps to resuscitate the reforms process,” he said.
