We have to support Dr Majoro

Back in my high school days (a very long time ago), one of our teachers decided to tap into his humour bank and told our class a rather “funny” joke. It wasn’t funny as in ha-ha but we all laughed out loud. Not at the joke but at him for telling such a dry joke. You’ll know how high school students are. The poor teacher said: One time, a blind man was invited for supper at a certain family. The family and guest all sat around the dinner table to enjoy a hearty home-cooked meal. The meal consisted of an oven-roasted chicken and fried rice (John would have said “flied lies”, if you know what I mean). As the family started to dish up, the guest was apportioned a quarter chicken leg on his plate. After a prayer to bless the food was made, the blind man (the guest) placed his hands over the plate and felt the quarter chicken leg. He then said, “Oh, I’ve been given a quarter chicken piece, I’m sure you’ve all dished half-chicken pieces on your plates.” Out of embarrassment, the mother of the house (the host) rushed quickly to change the quarter chicken leg and replaced it with a half chicken piece. Yet again, the blind man placed his hands over the plate and felt the half chicken piece. After feeling what he had been given, he then said, “Oh, I see! I now get half chicken on my plate. I’m sure that you’ve each dished out a full chicken on your plates (poleiting tsa lona, ke khoho, khoho, khoho). Out of frustration and anger, the mother took the entire roasted chicken and dumped it on the blind-man’s plate. As the story goes, the blind said, “Hmmm! Now that I’ve gotten a full chicken, I’m sure each of you has a full sheep on the plate.” (poleiting tsa lona ke nku, nku, nku). U so ka inahela mmali hore na nku e ka fella joang poleiting (You can take a wild guess how a whole sheep can fitbo a plate). The dinner date was ruined because nothing could satisfy the blind man. Nothing at all! The blind man loved to complain and most of all he was never satisfied. This is our disease in Lesotho. We’ve all prayed for a young, well-educated and open-minded Prime Minister. When we get one, we start to complain. “No, Ntate Tom was much better because he knew how to speak in public”. The next day, “No, Ntate Mosisili was way better. In his time in office, tenders were very easy to get” The day after, “No, we don’t see what Dr Majoro is doing. Maybe Mme Doti would be a much better option”. Hao banna, na re tla qeta? (When shall we stop?) I’ve also seen a silly comment on Facebook that read something like, “Timer lena (Dr Majoro) ha le na Vrrrr-pha!” But who really cares whether Dr Majoro has a Vrrr-pha or not? What we need at the moment is bread on the table. We need to support Dr Majoro regardless of his lack of charisma or charm and I’m not writing this piece as a way of soliciting a tender or as a member of the ABC. I’m neither a member of the ABC or the BNP, contrary to popular belief. I’m a businessman first. Our confused state of mind goes to show that we don’t really know what we want. But politics are certainly to blame for this mess. In Lesotho, the main purpose of our politics is to create dis-unity so that people think in a fragmented manner. The politics are very toxic and counter-productive. The agenda is never about developing Lesotho. It’s all about gaining power for tenders and appointments at different embassies. It’s a pure business transaction. “How many tenders will you kick-back, If I sponsor your political party for elections?” The biggest disappointment to date has been comments from one opposition party that was a member of the previous 4×4 government. I’ve read and seen very negative and ungodly comments such as, “When parliament finally re-opens, the first thing we’re going to do, is to topple Majoro’s government.” Before we continue, aren’t those comments treasonous? Look, we are in a time of deep crisis. In fact the whole situation is a mess. The Covid-19 crisis has compounded over and above the many problems that Lesotho already has. Lesotho is basically swimming in a pool of mud. Instead of our politicians maturing up and acting like adults, they choose to act like teenagers fighting over a girl’s attention. Our opposition political leaders should have told their members to rally behind Dr Majoro for two main reasons; for political and economic stability. Lesotho needs political stability first for the sake of economic stability. As a property developer, I know the negative effects of operating a business in a politically unstable environment and the biggest effect happens when Principal Secretaries are changed. Jesus! Since, we’ve now politicised almost everything in the country, the biggest mistake by far has been to politicise positions of Principal Secretaries (PS’s). Why do I say so? History tells us that positions of PS’s were once known as Permanent Secretaries and those appointments were mostly filled by career civil servants. That system worked very well until one “smart person” decided, “no man, I’m going to change these positions to Principal Secretaries and we’ll hire as we wish and according to party lines.” That was the beginning of the death of Lesotho’s public service sector. As things stand, PS’s are political appointees that know nothing about running the public service. Nothing! They are often recruited from their different political parties as a reward for their loyalty and come into government to push a business agenda. PS’s are business people within government. As a property developer, some of these projects can take almost three full years to package and they need constant communication with government officials. The situation we are in is that, this constant change of governments and constant change of PS’s is very disruptive to the business/private sector. Constant political change is very costly. When the government changes, things start from scratch. There is often no continuity and that frustrates the business community. That is the reason why Lesotho has fallen behind its peers, Botswana and eSwatini. Lesotho has been left as a least developed country and its counterparts have since graduated. For once, and just for once, our politicians need to act in solidarity. They need to start acting in unity. Dr Majoro is the best option that we have at the moment besides his flaws. It is time to rally behind him and support his leadership up until the 2022 elections. 2022 is almost here. I really do not understand what the urgency and pressure to change Dr Majoro’s government is unless the motive is to pillage whatever is left. Is it a matter of tenders? Or is it a matter retaining positions at different embassies? Or is it a matter of being driven around at the back-seat of a Mercedes-Benz? What’s so pressing and can’t wait before the 2022 elections? In closing, Lesotho is a cow that has been milked by its politicians until there’s nothing left. Politicians have forgotten to take the cow to graze over green pastures and to take it to the dam or the nearest river for fresh water. Politicians just want to milk and milk and milk the cow without ever feeding it. In this case, feeding the cow basically means growing the economy. There is nothing as destructive as having to lead people that undermine one’s authority. Let’s all learn to respect authority and support Dr Majoro to win. Under the current situation, if he wins, we all win and if he fails, we all fail. ‘Mako Bohloa