Africa-Press – Lesotho. As the timeframe of the National Reforms Authority (NRA) is heading to an end, there are dissenting voices on the future of this body. The NRA’s timeframe expires later this month on April 30.
To hear reflections about the future of this structure, it has convened a four-day ‘High-Level Forum on the Status of Implementation of the Lesotho National
Reforms’ from Monday to Thursday this week at ‘Manthabiseng Convention Center in Maseru. Whereas some are of the opinion that its mandate should be extended; some hold that it
should be dissolved and the new structure be established that will implement the reforms. On the other hand, some say the Authority’s timeframe should be
prolonged and should make a room to accommodate the representatives of other civil society organisations (CSO) that are not represented. These are views articulated by the members of the public, politicians, and members of
CSOs during the ongoing debates on what should happen post April 30. Currently, NRA has 59 members. Meanwhile, most of the members of NRA are the politicians and with the elections around
the corner, they will need to campaign for the October scheduled general elections. The purpose of this ongoing forum is for “the Authority to report on the ground
covered as far as the implementation of the reforms is concerned and for the stakeholders to reflect on the “options for the future of the Lesotho National
Reforms process beyond 30th April 2022”. Although the Authority had registered a “notable” progress in reforming the laws, there are laws that it has reported will be complete by September 2023.
It is expected that after this forum the opinions on the future of the reforms body will be submitted to the parliament for consideration. Southern African Development Community (SADC) during its 41st summit held in Malawi last
year recommended for the six months extension of the NRA mandate, which was to begin from October 30 2021 to April 30 2022. NRA was established through the parliament act, National Reforms Authority Act 2019 to implement the reforms in seven thematic areas which are: Judiciary, Constitution, Public Service, Economy, Media, Parliament and Security Sector.
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