Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE opposition this week was reported to be sharpening its knives as it plots to oust Prime Minister Sam Matekane from power. Sensing blood, given the shambolic state of his own Revolution for Prosperity (RFP), the opposition is now going for the kill.
The RFP is going through turbulence that saw three key MPs suspended last week in a move that will likely have serious ramifications for the one year-old political upstart.
The MPs are challenging the suspension in the courts of law. Even if the party’s national executive committee wins the case, the legal fight will likely leave the party weakened and seriously bruised.
It is against this background that the opposition has now been plotting to oust Matekane and his administration. They charge that Matekane, who was only elected into office 10 months ago, has dismally failed to deliver a better life for Basotho.
They also accuse him of presiding over a corrupt administration that has been parceling jobs to his relatives and cronies. They say Matekane has appointed his relatives into government positions and state-run enterprises.
They have also accused the Prime Minister of gross incompetence. But perhaps their biggest grievance is what they see as an attempt by Matekane to use state security agencies to harass the opposition in an attempt to cushion himself politically.
These are very serious charges that will certainly need to be backed up by hard evidence. In the absence of such hard evidence, the opposition risks coming across as petulant and insincere.
Having acquired a five-year mandate in last October’s general elections, it would only be fair to give Matekane the space to govern. We are of the opinion that the damning assessment about Matekane’s competence or otherwise has come pretty too early.
In other words, we think it is just too early to make any sound assessment of Matekane’s competence. In any case, we would want to see any government in Lesotho running its full five-year term. It was not without reason that the crafters of our supreme law, the Constitution, set in place these five-year terms.
For the sake of political and economic stability, we would want to see any government run its full term, unless there are overwhelming grounds that would call for the removal of the Prime Minister.
Anything short of a monumental disaster is not enough to justify removing Matekane from office 10 months into his term. We write this editorial comment fully cognizant of the feelings by some readers that we are backing Matekane.
That is not true. The fact of the matter is that we have no dog in this fight. What drives our thinking is a realisation that Lesotho needs political and economic stability for it to prosper.
Without a semblance of stability, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot. Each political player, Matekane included, must be given a chance to play.
Ten months is way too short. Even if Matekane is a hopeless failure as the opposition says the people of Lesotho are saying they have not clearly seen such failure.
Of course, we understand the growing impatience at the pace of economic transformation. But even with that slow pace, taking Matekane out at this juncture will not resolve the major structural issues that have haunted our economy for decades.
We are aware that the opposition now plans to file a motion of no-confidence against Matekane when parliament reopens next month. It says it has the required a number of MPs to get him out. If that were to happen, we will be back to square one – a tragic moment for this great country.
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