reforms

The reforms: reality or fairytale?

Author

Mr Mzimkhulu Sithetho

Managing Director of the Governance Institute for Sustainable Development and Editor-In-Chief of thizkingdom.com

A great deal of Lesotho?s measures to consolidate democracy have been influenced from outside the country. Sometimes these measures have come with stringent conditions and this has meant the country
MASERU: Lesotho is currently immersed with a huge task of implementing sector-wide reforms, whose main purpose is to bring about long-term solution to Lesotho's long-standing political and economic impasse. The reforms were triggered by the Mpaphi Phumaphi Commission of Inquiry Report, which proposed that Lesotho has to embark on multi-sectoral reforms in order to address its endemic political conflict, thizkingdom.com takes a cursory look at the reforms

Lesotho's perennial conflict post-election has prompted the Kingdom to embark on multi-sectoral reforms, whose sole purpose is to address sectoral challenges, which are envisaged to be the main proble that impedes development in other sphere. Lesotho's weak peace architecture has a long history as it has become a tradition that every post-election period is characterized by political instability that threatens stability of the country.The post-2015 snap election period saw the assassination of former Commander of Lesotho Defense Force (LDF), Lieutenant-General Maaparankoe Mahao in what then LDF top officials and then coalition government said was a result of his refusal to be arrested. This followed a series of arrests and abductions of several soldiers who were charged with mutiny for what was believed to be a plot hatched to topple the top brass of the LDF. This was disputed by the Phumaphi Commission of Inquiry, which was set-up by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to investigate the murder of Lieutenant-general Maaparankoe Mahao at the invitation of Lesotho Government.Events that followed the marathon inquiry characterized a country at war with itself and resultantly lost in its quest to consolidate democratic rule, which is couched on the cardinal tenets of rule of law, human rights respect, good governance and observance of freedoms of civilians.

Apart from soldiers who were abducted, tortured and kept in custody for a long time before being charged, the nation witnessed harassment, intimidation and shooting of journalists with intent to silence them. These acts have gone unabated even after the 2017 elections, on whom Basotho had pinned their hopes for a new dawn for the Kingdom. Hope was that the post-2017 poll would bring to a halt, barbaric actions of a regime which was decried as harboring ill-fated motives, especially for those who did not share its vision.In order to solve the political impasse, the Phumaphi Commission of Inquiry sought to find a lasting solution to Lesotho's long-standing lack of peace and a seemingly weak conflict resolution and management machinery.

The Commission stated thus in its recommendation for Lesotho to embark on sector-wide reforms:"The Commission has established that some of the political and security problems peculiar to the Kingdom of Lesotho emanate from the Constitution of Lesotho. The deficiencies and overlaps in the constitution, with regard to mandates of security institutions need to be looked into urgently with a comprehensive strategy to reform them," the Commission recommended.As regards sectors to be covered by the reforms, the Commission Report supported the SADC Observer Mission to Lesotho (SOMILES)'s recommendations that had been spelt out before the Phumaphi Commission of Inquiry.

The Commission therefore recommended thus: "The Commission has noted that the SOMILEs Report covers extensively the areas of reform (constitution, security sector, public sector and information and media). To avoid repetition, the Commission therefore recommends an accelerated implementation of the reforms encapsulated in the SOMILES Report. SADC should come up with a comprehensive strategy on how to assist Lesotho to implement these reforms," the Commission recommends.The exercise of implementing the reforms has started, but on a snail's pace, given some sensitivities involved in the implementation of the reforms. One critical issue is the participation of all stakeholders in the reform process - ruling and opposition parties, parties outside parliament and also NGOs, the media and the security sector.

One of the sensitivities is that some opposition leaders had fled the country for fear of their lives and embarked on a self-imposed exile. Their participation is critical in the reforms and the government was under pressure to embrace everyone who has a stake on the reform process to be taken onboard.However, there have been concerns about these reforms as regards their expected impact and their projected success. Views coming from other sectors of society are such that the reforms are generally a grand strategy to address deficiencies in the main drivers of Lesotho's democracy-consolidation efforts, the constitution, security sector, the public sector and the information and media sectors.However, concerns raised about the reforms include among others, whether they are realistic in terms of achieving the goal for which they are intended. These reforms have been patchy and disparate in character. Some cite little political will and leadership fervor across the spectrum of the country, which have undermined success of previous reforms.

The other critical issues cited is external influence as a result of purported foreign support, which does not just come without vested political, economic and other interests. Examples above, of the inference of the Americans, who as a result of their support with AGOA and MCC to Lesotho, place stringent conditions and many demands for compliance by the recipient country. Their threat of pull-out if there is no clear signal these reforms will succeed puts Lesotho at the mercy of the paymaster. Most importantly, there seems to be polarization and lack of unison among players in the reform process, with juxtaposition between ruling and opposition parties.

Some pundits believe that the reforms are an abstract phenomenon intended to pretend that something is happening, which will change the situation. A critical point raised is that the reforms are mainly couched on transforming institutions, not the people leading thos.e institutions. Other concerns include the role of various stakeholders such as the Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN), which after kick-starting the community mobilisation exercises was met with great criticism from other political parties. Other observers argue that the reforms leave out critical factors of social reform structural reforms,which they argue are critical if Lesotho must be seen to have transformed from the state it is today. 

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