Africa-Press – Lesotho. In an effort to fight crime from the community level, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) donated Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) equipment amounting to
M500 000 to Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS). These equipment is to be distributed among community policing committees. Speaking at the handover ceremony the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative to Lesotho Nessie Golakai-Gold
stated that the donation forms part of the ongoing initiative from UNDP that is spearheaded by UNDP’s innovations unit, the Lesotho Accelerator Lab. She added that the initiative is in collaboration with the
UNDP Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU) which coordinates the overall innovative approach in UNDP and Governance and Peace-building Unit (GPU) which focuses on overall
governance and peace-building approach. Gold extended that the equipment has not only come with an installed application – Lehokela, which is intended to ease
communication between law enforcement personnel, but it also indicates the transition towards a digital era within the LMPS. “The mobile application was designed and developed in partnership with the National
University of Lesotho. Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL) is one of the main partners on this initiative by implementing a zero-rating feature to ensure that Lehokela application on mobile devices
and the Lehokela servers are not charged over the ETL network,” Gold emphasised that the app is also anticipated to support and improve an already existing toll-free telephone
line technology within police stations called Nthuseng. She said the initiative is a significant milestone that talks to Innovation and Technology pillar within
the national agenda, the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP II). “The initiative also pushes the boundaries by contributing to Lesotho ICT Strategy
that has seen significant improvement through the recent implementation of e-government infrastructure phase I and II. It will also be a significant contributor to data generation on crime statistics, nature and profile of crime
and enable the LMPS to design adequate deterrence mechanisms thereof,” Gold stated. She articulated that equipment will enable the expansion of the Lehokela
application, to enroll more police stations and communities from identified regions across the country. She noted that there are complementary applications
that similarly seek to report on and prevent crime and hopes that these initiatives can converge into national systems that serve the overall security
needs of the Basotho. She said these regions will utilize the application to ensure that members of communities support one another in liaison with police,
for continued peace and livelihood promotion in communities. Gold highlighted that all parties agreed to develop a digital solution platform which will assist
communities and LMPS to easily navigate observed conflicts and criminal incidents within communities and report such incidents in real-time to community policing committees and police.
Senior Assistance Commissioner of Police Ezekiel Senti appreciated UNDP for their worthy contribution in the fight against crime, he pointed out that crime has had a
negative economic impact in many countries, Lesotho included. “Lehokela was first launched at Tšakholo upon the realization that stock theft cases were heightening in that area. We are proud to announce that it is useful because some of the stolen animals were found through Lehokela,” Senti said.
