Africa-Press – Lesotho. Former National Reforms Authority (NRA) boss, Chief Pelele Letsoela, was on Monday forced to apologise by senators for snubbing King Letsie III’s opinions in crafting the Omnibus Bill.
The Bill seeks to amend the Lesotho’s 1993 constitution. Chief Letsoela apologised during a workshop on the Omnibus Constitutional Amendment Bill (the 11th amendment to the constitution Bill) at Avani Maseru Hotel.
“But we have made consultations, we were only left with doing recommendations when the NRA’s time expired,” Chief Letsoela said.
He said they asked the King to submit his recommendations on the reforms “but he wrote us a letter saying we should wait a bit until he gets back to us”.
“The king came back to us at the last minute and the Omnibus Bill had been passed to the minister on the 11th of April 2022,” he said.
He also said the king’s opinions “were not left out or thrown out”. “We wrote to the minister and attached the whole dossier from the palace asking for advice,” he said. He said the NRA has now been dissolved “therefore the coming committees will finish up where we left off”.
The purpose of the Bill is to amend the constitution of Lesotho to give effect to the resolutions of the multi-stakeholder national dialogue on comprehensive national reforms as espoused in the plenary II reports.
The first to register dissatisfaction was the Principal Chief of Tajane, Chief Thato Mohale, who said “the laws related to the senators and chiefs are not prioritised”.
Chief Mohale said the Omnibus Bill was done through the plenary report saying before then there was a dialogue that did a roadmap. He complained that their issues as chiefs “do not appear anywhere yet the plenary II reports tabled them under short-term plans”.
“We are wondering why they were not worked out, all of them, they had to take about 12 months at least,” Chief Mohale said.
“Everyone in any meeting greets King Letsie III before delivering their speech. But are the king’s submissions included?” he said.
“It would be important to include the king’s submissions before anything else because he is the king.
Chief Khoabane Theko of Thaba-Bosiu said they were forced by moral obligations to continue doing the reforms “yet nobody did anything about our issues”.
“It is not right that the king’s opinions are also not included,” Chief Theko said. He complained that the executive always undermines the chieftaincy “at all times with everything including services”.
“How do you ask someone to be a participant in something yet you disregard their opinions and issues?” he said. He said even councils are now seen to be higher than the chiefs in the country.
Chief Seeiso Bereng Seeiso of Matsieng also complained that they have an “open wound with the matters of undermining the chieftainship”. He said it is their concern toward the government and the NRA as well.
“A lot of issues are deliberately, purposely and maliciously diluted and pruned from the original script where Basotho were giving out their opinions,” Chief Seeiso said.
“The truth is known that some people purposely removed some opinions of Basotho,” he said.
Justice Minister Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane declined to comment, saying “I cannot comment on this issue because it involves the king”. “Ask the NRA ex-chairman why he has not incorporated the king’s views,” he said.
He refused to share the dossier containing the king’s views that Chief Letsoela sent him. Also Chief Letsoela could not share the documents with thepost.
The Bill makes provisions for, among others, the crossing of the floor in the National Assembly after three years. It says people who become MPs through the proportional representation system are not permitted to cross the floor.
If they vote against their party they would also lose their parliamentary seats. It recognises isiXhosa and isiPhuthi as official languages of Lesotho and it introduces the age of majority in Lesotho and it sets it at 18 years. It also introduces representatives of Bafokeng, Baphuthi, and Matebele chiefs, and people with disabilities as members of the senate.
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