The honeymoon is over

Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s new Cabinet which was announced last Friday has received the thumbs up from most Basotho.

In a country that had seen previous governments recycle the same old, tired faces, over and over again, the new Cabinet represents a breath of fresh air.

Most of Matekane’s ministers are untainted by the baggage of the past.

It is on this basis that most Basotho have expressed confidence in the new government that it might deliver on its campaign promises.

Matekane’s decision to trim the Cabinet from 26 ministers to 15 has also been hailed as a clear demonstration of his commitment to cut government expenditure.

This will likely result in a huge saving for the government. It will cut the massive expenditure on salaries, travel allowances and vehicle costs.

But these savings will amount to nothing if the new ministers do not deliver real economic growth for Lesotho. All that Basotho are expecting to see is social and economic change on the ground.

We must, however, hasten to warn Matekane that this political honeymoon that he is currently enjoying will not last forever.

The people, who voted overwhelmingly for the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP), will quickly turn against him if he fails to deliver on his electoral promises.

That makes it urgent that Matekane cracks the whip and ensure that his ministers deliver.

The government’s austerity measures must be matched by instant delivery. We see that Matekane set himself ambitious targets within the first 100 days of assuming office.

That is the spirit. He must hit the ground running. Matekane has already promised that government ministers will have performance contracts.

That is a welcome change. In the past, government ministers would operate without any measurable targets. The result was that ministers would adopt a cavalier attitude towards their work.
Those days are now gone.

We must hold government ministers, and any other civil servant for that matter, accountable for their work. There must be clear consequences for ministers who fail to meet set targets.

And we also hope that Matekane will have the political courage to hold accountable ministers who fail to perform. That is likely to present a stern test to Matekane.

Will he have the political courage to discipline errant ministers who might have stood by him during the gruelling election campaign?

Matekane’s loyalties must be to Lesotho and not to some shadowy political ties that might have been built over time.

That is so critical if he is to fulfil his vision of building a prosperous Lesotho for every Mosotho.

Matekane is taking over a government that is broke. This is a government with a thoroughly dysfunctional civil service.

If he is to make an immediate impact, his government will need a fresh approach to address the perennial challenges that have stymied economic growth for decades.

His government will need to remove the bottlenecks on foreign investment while creating a platform for Basotho to participate meaningfully in the national economy.

His government must revamp the agriculture sector so that Lesotho does not have to import basic commodities from across the border, which has been a matter of real shame for Lesotho for decades.

His government will need to market Lesotho as a “tourism Mecca” in Africa. Ministers need to think big when it comes to “harvesting” these low-hanging fruits. Basotho want results and they want them now.