The voice of the people must triumph

IN our lead story for this week, we carry a story of how parliament has come up with a controversial Bill that appears to be at odds with the expressed will of the people of Lesotho. Unsurprisingly, this has triggered howls of protest from certain sections of society who feel deeply aggrieved.

Their anger is understandable. Basotho have invested years into the constitutional reform process and had high hopes that these reforms would provide a basis for a political settlement to end decades of political strife.

The National Reforms Authority (NRA), a body that was tasked with leading the reforms process which has since been disbanded, has accused parliament of butchering the Bill to achieve its narrow agenda. It has also accused MPs of sneaking in certain clauses within the Bill to secure their own political interests.

At the core of its grievances are a list of 33 issues the NRA says it is not happy with and wants addressed. The NRA has accused parliament of massaging the new Bill to the extent that it no longer reflects the opinions of Basotho whose views were painfully gathered over the last two years.

They say parliament has now expunged from the Bill key clauses that were central to the whole reform agenda. Take for instance the issue of floor crossing. The NRA had proposed a tweak on floor-crossing indicating that MPs would only be able to cross during a 15-day window period which would be declared by the Speaker of Parliament.

That clause, which would have brought stability to any sitting government, is gone.
Parliament has also now removed a clause guaranteeing freedom of expression and access to information.

We would have imagined that any progressive government would fight tooth and nail to protect such basic freedoms. The removal of the key clause on freedom of the press and media poses a greater risk to the people’s basic freedoms.

We are on record as having commended the NRA for coming up with a progressive piece of legislation. But all its efforts appear to have gone to waste, thanks to some political skullduggery on the part of some MPs.

The new Bill has also removed the threshold for political parties to qualify for a seat in the National Assembly. What is clear from all this is how some of our politicians have remained fixated with the battle for self-preservation at the expense of the country’s greater good.

They want to ensure they remain in parliament by all means necessary. A new clause to ensure that Principal Secretaries are appointed by a special commission rather than by the Prime Minister has also been thrown out.

What we now have is a retention of the status quo where PS’ will continue to be appointed by a sitting Prime Minister, and as a result continue feeding the same system of patronage that has been at the centre of our political crisis.

Our position as a newspaper is that all this is wrong. This is a parliament that has gone rogue. We have a bunch of MPs who are fixated with their own self-preservation instead of looking at what is good for Lesotho.

They must be stopped. The people were quite emphatic on what they wanted. Their voice must be restored and the will of the people must triumph. What Basotho said they wanted in the new constitution were not by any measure outrageous demands. The people’s voice must not be ignored.