{"id":12992,"date":"2022-04-13T08:34:47","date_gmt":"2022-04-13T08:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns"},"modified":"2022-04-14T10:22:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T10:22:02","slug":"mps-stick-to-their-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns","title":{"rendered":"MPs stick to their guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>MPs who awarded themselves a controversial M5 000 fuel allowance last week are not backing down despite swelling anger from the public. The MPs are from all the major political parties represented in Parliament.<\/p>\n

They are from the ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC), the Democratic Congress (DC), the Movement for Economic Change (MEC) and the National Independent Party (NIP).<\/p>\n

Some MPs from the Alliance of Democrats (AD), the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) MPs and the Basotho National Party (BNP) have also thrown their weight behind the proposal.<\/p>\n

This is despite the fact that some of the parties have officially distanced themselves from the decision. The decision to defend the allowances comes at a time when about 6 000 Basotho signed a petition protesting against \u201cthe unfair act\u201d of Parliament.<\/p>\n

The petition was handed over to Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro last week. The MEC\u2019s Women\u2019s League this week issued a statement lambasting the decision to award the allowances.<\/p>\n

It urged its MPs to reject and dissociate themselves from the decision. In what points to the confusion within the party, the MEC\u2019s deputy leader, T\u0161epang T\u0161ita-Mosena, insisted last week that they deserve the new allowances.<\/p>\n

She said that is because the poor often pester them with requests for financial support. Speaking at a press conference last week, T\u0161ita-Mosena said Lesotho\u2019s MPs were earning a pittance as compared to their counterparts in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cLesotho comes last on Members of Parliament salaries. Members of Parliament also use their own family money to help their communities,\u201d T\u0161ita-Mosena said. \u201cThe money is all spent on the people. \u201d<\/p>\n

She said principal secretaries earn way better than MPs. The MPs said despite the public outcry, they need the money since they sometimes use their own funds to help the needy in their communities.<\/p>\n

The parliamentary chief whip, Mankoe Maime, lambasted parties that had since made a U-turn on the matter. \u201cIt is hypocritical that some of us have now gone to the media saying they reject the allowances yet they were part of us when we agreed on (the deal),\u201d Maime said.<\/p>\n

Maime was referring to some AD MPs who buckled under pressure from the public and apologised for supporting the motion for the allowances. The MPs also said they deserved the allowances because \u201ceven some journalists pester us with requests for money\u201d.<\/p>\n

Malimong MP, Leshoboro Mohlajoa, said journalists are \u201ca source of the whole controversy\u201d saying \u201cradio journalists expect MPs to help people with their own money\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou, journalists, sometimes personally call us asking for money,\u201d Mohlajoa said.<\/p>\n

The MPs said they have passed a lot of gazettes in the past without having to call press conferences for justification but they did this because \u201csome MPs have chosen to use parliamentary affairs as political fields\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly Lesotho MPs in the world are earning salaries this low,\u201d Maime said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is because of some members of the House who play politics when they are supposed to review our salaries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are embarrassed by the members of the House who have been going out playing dirty politics on the issue of fuel allowances.<\/p>\n

Maime said they realise and understand that the country is living through a Covid-19 pandemic, saying they are not doing the changes to hurt other people.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic servants have a lot of benefits compared to Members of the Parliament,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the leader of LCD, Mothetjoa Metsing, who strongly opposes the MPs\u2019 fuel allowances, \u201cgets a lot of benefits including a Lexus that consumes a lot of fuel daily, a driver, a guard, house workers, and gardeners\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis wife too gets the benefits, they get medical aid, electricity, free water, and others but he dares to oppose his colleagues\u2019 benefits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another MP, \u2019Mathabo Moremoholo, a member of the AD, said the community \u201cdoes not feel pity for us because they expect us to help them but refuse to give us allowances\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI arrived in this parliament with blots on the cheeks (lichubaba) and I did not even have shoes, I received M500 000 then bought a car,\u201d Moremoholo said.<\/p>\n

Moremoholo urged the entire nation to \u201cstop talking and shut up because we bury your loved ones with our own money\u201d. \u201cThey should shut up and let us work for them and the coming generations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Mosalemane MP, Local Government Minister Sam Rapapa, said the allowance regulations also passed through cabinet before passing to the House. \u201cThe cabinet has given its blessing over the issue,\u201d Rapapa said.<\/p>\n

He said the issue does not belong to the MPs alone but all the stakeholders. The NIP leader, Kimetso Mathaba, said the law had already been passed and \u201cthere is no reason to go to the media, it\u2019s just that we want to clarify how the issue came into the House\u201d.<\/p>\n

But AD spokesman Apesi Rat\u0161ele said MPs who support the allowances lack morality. \u201cIt is madness for members to demand such allowances as they do not even have valid reasons,\u201d Rat\u0161ele said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of being ashamed Members of Parliament went on to show their weaknesses by calling a press conference,\u201d he said. The LCD wants an independent commission to review the MPs\u2019 salaries and benefits so that MPs do not do it themselves.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. MPs who awarded themselves a controversial M5 000 fuel allowance last week are not backing down despite swelling anger from the public. The MPs are from all the major political parties represented in Parliament. They are from the ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC), the Democratic Congress (DC), the Movement for Economic Change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":12991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[233,246,343,245],"class_list":["post-12992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-basotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nMPs stick to their guns - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MPs who awarded themselves a controversial M5 000 fuel allowance last week are not backing down despite swelling anger f ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MPs stick to their guns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MPs who awarded themselves a controversial M5 000 fuel allowance last week are not backing down despite swelling anger f ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-13T08:34:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-14T10:22:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/04\/img-6257f5b0f28d7.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"487\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MPs stick to their guns\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-13T08:34:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-14T10:22:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns\"},\"wordCount\":898,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/04\/img-6257f5b0f28d7.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Basotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mps-stick-to-their-guns\",\"name\":\"MPs stick to their guns - 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