Africa-Press – Lesotho. The highly expected 2022/2023 budget speech was aborted owing to the chaos which broke out in the National Assembly on Wednesday this week. This is after the Members of Parliament (MPs) disrupted
the house proceedings before the Minister of Finance Hon. Thabo Sophonia tables it. Section 112 of the Constitution charges the Minister of Finance to present the budget.
It reads: “The Minister for the time being responsible for finance shall cause to be prepared and laid before both Houses of Parliament in each financial year estimates of the revenues and expenditure of
Lesotho for the next following financial year. ” Just before the house proceedings could go on, the Speaker of the house Sephiri Motanyane read a letter of All Basotho Convention
(ABC)’s withdrawal from the government and the coalition. After reading this
letter the Speaker temporarily suspended the house and summoned all the leaders of the political parties represented in the house to the meeting which took
close to two hours. It was after the house reconvened that the Speaker said the process of withdrawing from the government should unfold and that did not
happen. The house proceedings were disrupted by the furore and many points of orders over how the ABC withdrawal from the government should unfold. ABC leader, Hon.
Nkaku Kabi rose on a point of order saying the ABC through its leadership caucus has withdrawn itself from the coalition government. He again rose to say the Speaker should point to them
where they should sit now that they are not part of the government. The Speaker then ordered that the members vacate to the crossbench and seats occupied by the opposition which are on the left side of
the Speaker but there was no crossing. In 2020 when ABC withdrew from the coalition which was called 4 * 4 government made of ABC, Alliance of Democrats (AD), Basotho
National Party (BNP) and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL), the Speaker read names of the ABC MPs individually proposing a question for yes or no, the
former being those who supports the dissolution move and latter for those who oppose. This was also what was raised by the ABC Chairperson and Mosalemane No.
19 MP Hon. Tsoinyane Rapapa. As there was no movement from ABC from the government
side to the opposition, the Speaker again temporarily adjourned the house calling a meeting with the leader of the house and Minister of Parliamentary
Affairs Hon. Mathibeli Mokhothu and after the re-adjournment, he gave ABC two minutes to cross to the opposition, still they remained on the government
side. Following a non-reaction from the ABC, the Minister of Finance was called to table the budget speech and just before he can table it, ABC leader Hon.
Kabi approached him and took his iPad and a pandemonium broke, forcing the house to adjourn abruptly. Most of the points of orders from the ABC and opposition
parties wanted the party to cross and not individuals. Reacting to these developments, the DC Spokesperson and Minister of Mining Hon. Serialong Qoo said the budget was “read” despite being
disrupted. He said since the Speaker had called on it per the order of the day, it has been read. However, the Democratic Party of Lesotho (DPL) leader
Hon. Limpho Tau said the budget was not read. He said the public ought to know the contents of the budget and there was nothing which was heard from the Minister as he was
disrupted before he can proceed reading it. Tau’s bone of contention said the process never unfolded procedurally, arguing that everyone is in the dark of what is contained in the
budget. Section 113 of the Constitution says: “Parliament may make provision under which, if it appears to the Minister for the time being responsible for finance that the Appropriation Act for any financial year will
not come into operation by the beginning of that financial year, he may authorise the withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund of moneys for the purpose of meeting expenditure necessary to carry on the government of Lesotho in
respect of the period commencing with the beginning of that financial year and expiring four months thereafter or on the coming into operation of the Act…” The budget was supposed to be tabled last week Friday but was rescheduled for Wednesday as the Minister said he had things to verify in the budget.
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