Africa-Press – Lesotho. Despite some hiccups that have countered the progress of the national reforms implementing body, the National Reforms Authority (NRA) Chairperson Chief
Pelele Letsoela said the authority is on track to deliver its mandate. This he said during the press conference on Tuesday this week. Flanked by the Deputy
Chairperson Liteboho Kompi, NRA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Advocate Mafiroane Motanyane and the Deputy CEO Tšiu Khatibe reported on the ground covered by the authority.
The 59 member body 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. Amongst the achievements, he pointed out that the NRA has engaged the two legal drafters
who commenced work early this month. The Chairperson also mentioned that the security expert will be engaged soon and is expected to report to duty this month, this he said is made possible by the financial
assistance from the African Union (AU). Also the other specialised areas which had not have the experts within the authority are the constitution, public service and parliament, these will have their experts secured “soon”
through the financial assistance of the Commonwealth. Chief Letsoela added that their communication and implementation plan has been completed and they
will soon hold road shows which are envisaged to sensitise the public once they have secured funding. He said owing to limited time, the authority had resolved to have worked on all the amendments
to the Constitution and the sections which require two-thirds majority to be passed including the referendums. “NRA has reached a mutual agreement with the Parliamentary Council Office to
expedite the transmission of the laws between NRA and Parliament,” he said. The Chairperson said they have requested the parliament to shorten their winter recess so that they
can work on the laws and bills from the authority. NRA has passed the following laws to the Parliament; The following laws have received attention from the special committees and they are to be passed to the
NRA Chief Letsoela said some of the challenges include: the delay to find experts on Constitution, Public Service, Parliament and Security; delays for the refurbishment of the
NRA’s premises adding that such delays have ran over the year, general shortage of funds resulting in implantation delays and the COVID-19 pandemic. He promised that they will ensure that they realise their objective which is to implement the public views contained in the Plenary II report for the “Lesotho we want”.
