MASERU – Finance Minister Dr Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane has no moral right to criticise previous governments since she was their chief adviser when she worked as the Central Bank governor.
That is the view of the main opposition party, the Democratic Congress (DC). The party was responding to criticism by Dr Matlanyane over the poor state of Lesotho’s economy.
In a scathing statement issued this week, the DC’s secretary general, Tšitso Cheba, said the criticism by Dr Matlanyane was misplaced as she was in the thick of things as part of previous governments.
However, Cheba did not mention that as governor, Dr Matlanyane did not have the final say on the economic direction the country would take.
The DC, which was part of the last coalition government, was irked by Dr Matlanyane’s remarks where she said the government’s coffers were dry.
“We are not expecting her to be part of the people who are complaining about the problem,” Cheba said.
Regarding tender corruption mentioned in Dr Matlanyane’s speech, the party said both the giver of the tender and the receiver should be taken as part of the problem.
“This corruption they are preaching about is between the government and the private sector,” the DC statement reads.
He said the new government must accept responsibility because most of them were businessmen who dabbled in corruption before they assumed office last year.
Cheba said many people in the government know how to corrupt civil servants, and they must know how to stop that corruption.
The DC also demanded answers from the government on what it called “unlawful employment” as mentioned by Dr Matlanyane.
This comes after the government earlier said it would kick out civil servants who were corruptly hired, mostly based on political patronage.
The DC, after its leader Mathibeli Mokhothu complained on Twitter about this move, attracted an avalanche of critics who said his government had staffed the Home Affairs Ministry with party functionaries.
The party said the actions of the government so far do not portray a government that has the interests of people who are marginalised and poor.
Apart from stopping new recruitments, the DC said people will not be able to pay for health services as the government had stopped its support to the Christian Health Association of Lesotho.
The DC said those in government promised that they would use their privately owned machinery to repair roads and bridges but now they say the government purse is empty instead of fulfilling their electoral promises.
“When they are supposed to deliver those promises, they tell the nation that the government is broke,” the DC statement reads.
Cheba blasted ministers for lying that they would use their cars to do government business saying the DC is surprised that “all of them are using government vehicles that are fuelled by the government”.
He said while the government had said it would cut international travel, ministers are always on flights so that they get per diems.
“Yet they continue to lie to Basotho that they have cut (foreign trips).”
Cheba said they are yet to see if corruption will be eradicated or if the government will start investigating and prosecuting people who are corrupt.
In her statement, Dr Matlanyane said the economy is on shaky ground.
She said the country relies on imports.
She said out of the M19.7 billion the government was expecting to raise in revenue, there was a M1.1 billion hole.
“We also have shortages for the government ministries of M1.3 billion,” Dr Matlanyane said.
She said in the 2019/2020 Financial Year, the government failed to pay businessmen M1.2 billion.
She said during the 2020/21 Financial Year, the government failed to pay businessmen M800 million.
And part of that money was paid in the Financial Year 2021/22.
Further in the 2021/22 Financial Year, the government failed to pay service providers a staggering M950 million, part of which was paid in the Financial Year 2022/23.
Dr Matlanyane said the government still owes local businesses M260 million.
She said this is bad because it killed some businesses owned by Basotho.
“It also causes trouble for both businesses and banks because businesses could not settle their debts,” Dr Matlanyane said.
For the current Financial Year 2022/23, she said the government could be owing service providers a whopping M643 million.
She said one of the main reasons for the declining economy is the “excessive and illegal hiring in the public service”.
Dr Matlanyane said the government’s tendency to enter into unbalanced contracts like AVIS and Bidvest for the management of its fleet has also contributed significantly to the poor state of the economy.
Nkheli Liphoto
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