Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) has recovered M2 million out of the M34 million that was allegedly stolen by four debt collectors. The LEC board member, ’Masofia Lesaoana, told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday that they had only managed to recover M2 million out of the M34 million so far.
This comes after PAC chairperson, ’Machabana Lemphane-Letsie, demanded answers from the board about what they have done to recover the stolen funds. “We are not happy with how you have been running the LEC as a board.
Tell us what you are doing to change the situation,” Lemphane-Letsie said. She rebuked the LEC board that it commits mistakes in its scope of work and imposes hefty electricity prices on the general public but fail to collect stolen money.
“The consumers pay a heavy price for your mishandling of the company,” she said.
“You are the ones pulling down the LEC,” Lemphane-Letsie said.
The LEC board chairman, Rapapa Sepiriti, told the committee that the M34 million was detected by their committee after deploying some temporary workers to investigate the leakage.
“We asked them to investigate and they found out that the LEC was defrauded M34 million due to some employees who connived with some companies to defraud the company,” Sepiriti said.
The committee further heard that the money had been recovered after the board had an agreement with such companies which helped defraud the LEC. Sepiriti told the committee that their investigations are still on-going.
Lesaoana said they are still collecting money from companies that connived with the debt collectors to swindle the LEC. “It is unfortunate that some of the companies have either closed down or migrated to other countries,” she said, adding that many were owned by foreigners.
Lemphane-Letsie argued that the M2 million is nothing compared to what has been lost. She said the money was stolen a long time ago. She demanded to know why the board only managed to recover M2 million.
Lemphane-Letsie asked Lesaoana if she seriously thought they had done a good job so far. Responding to the question, Lesaoana said they are satisfied after they launched an investigation into the missing funds at the LEC.
“We are satisfied,” she said. Lemphane-Letsie again asked the board chairman Sepiriti if he was also satisfied with the progress.
“Are you saying you have done well by recovering only M2 million?” she asked. Another PAC member, ’Makatleho Motsoasele, told the LEC board that it should be serious with their job as M2 million is not a lot of money.
“You have lost M34 million, how are you happy to have found only M2 million of that amount?” Motsoasele said.
Sepiriti responded that they are not happy with their progress and the rate they have been collecting the money. He said they have since strengthened their internal controls to stop the leakage.
aid. “Until today, his government does not have passports, and there is no answer as to when they will be made available,” he said. He also talked about the biting lack of jobs which he said the Matekane-led government cannot create.
“People are still jobless even now, instead of distributing the few available jobs fairly they engage in nepotism,” he said.
The UAT founders include the former RFP Abia constituency chairman, Cowboy Sethathi, and activist Francis Ramosetle. Ramosetle said he has decided to leave the RFP because he “felt unwelcome in the party for calling a spade a spade”.
He said Matekane has disappointed him. He said the RFP leadership always tell members to form their own parties when they express their grievances about the manner the party is being led.
“Now we have left them, and we are yet to take most of their members of parliament,” Ramosetle said. He said unlike the RFP, the new party will allow a diversity of opinions.
Sethathi told thepost that he left his political home to the new one because he is “tired of the endless fights in the RFP”. “It is now clear, the RFP is a private project that belongs to its owner who does as he pleases,” Sethathi said.
He said they ended up giving up after seeing that “the courts of law are captured by the ruling parties”. “I have left together with five members of the constituency committee here,” he said.
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