Africa-Press – Lesotho. In an effort to provide opportunity for members of the public to voice out their concerns and needs relating to the proposed Initiation School Bill, Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF) brought together the Members of Parliament (MPs) who are members of Natural Resources Portfolio Committee and the public to scrutinize the bill before it can be finalized.
The bill has been drafted and presented by the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture. This public hearing took place at Tele, Quthing on Monday
SADC-PF Lesotho Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and Rights (SRHS) Officer ‘Mammehela Matamane disclosed that the main objective of SRHR, HIV and AIDS Governance Project, is to strengthen the capacity of participating SADC national Parliaments to advocate for SRHR through improved legislation, increased budget allocation, strengthened oversight and visible representation.
She highlighted that the reason of having a public hearing on the proposed Initiation School bill is because, it is very critical for Parliament to consider the public comments on the proposed bill so that it is responsive to the peoples’ needs.
“At this stage of the project, it is very much important to support the public hearings on proposed bills that address cultural practices that seem to have a negative impact on SRHR issues.
The public hearing becomes very critical in terms of ensuring that the public opinion is part and parcel of the discussions before the bill can be finalized or even becomes law.
Without doubt, the deliberations on the Bill by MPs who interface with the public will add value to the Bill and may lead to legal amendments to reflect issues that have not yet been incorporated,” she said.
Matamane informed that it is expected that the project will in the long term achieve universal access to integrated SRHR, HIV and AIDS, and related rights, including bringing forward social change, improved health, and respect for human rights that are enjoyed by all in the SADC region.
While addressing the residents, member of Natural Resources Portfolio Committee and MP for Tele Constituency Hon. Mothepu Mahapa informed them that they are given an opportunity to testify in support of or opposition to the bill in question.
Then this will lead to an open discussion considering the concerns raised and amendments to the bill will be done where necessary. The concerns will be noted and will be submitted as a report to Parliament.
The proposed bill on initiation prescribes the minimum age for the initiation of both males and females as 18 years, to ensure that children do not drop out of formal schools and go for initiation, thereby ensuring that children stay in schools and access quality education as stated in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4).
The Bill encourages that a person gets initiated at an age whereby she or he is able to give consent to be initiated with a full understanding of the consequences of the decision.
The Bill further provides for the protection of a child’s welfare and rights which might be harmed by certain cultural practices. Among the issues raised by the community members, they urged for the bill to be inclusive of different ethnic groups found in Quthing, like Baxhosa and Baphuthi.
They proposed for initiated Pastors to take the word of God to the initiation school as a form of empowering initiates with Godly information. They also urged for initiations charges paid by parents to be lowered and for initiation schools to stop initiating underage children.
They also asked for the teachers of initiation schools to be paid M6000 for coaching the initiates. Present at the event were Quthing District Administrator, representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture and World Vision Lesotho. The public hearings are expected to go on around the country this whole week, areas covered in Quthing entail Tele and Tsatsane.
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