{"id":19945,"date":"2022-09-20T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T12:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/parties-fight-over-funds"},"modified":"2022-09-20T12:45:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T12:45:00","slug":"parties-fight-over-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/parties-fight-over-funds","title":{"rendered":"Parties fight over funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>TEMPERS flared at a meeting between the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and political parties\u2019 treasurers over campaign funds.<br \/>\nThe agenda of the Tuesday meeting was to discuss how political parties would share the M5 million allocated by the government for campaign funding.<br \/>\nThe IEC also wanted to emphasise the importance of political parties accounting for the funds.<br \/>\nEmotions started running high after the IEC financial officer, \u2019Mabatho Sesoane, explained how the money would be shared among the parties.<br \/>\nSesoane said M1 million would be shared equally among the parties contesting the election.<br \/>\nShe however said those that did not get 500 or more votes in the 2017 election will not get anything.<br \/>\nThe remaining M4 million will be shared proportionally based on the number of votes achieved in the previous election, she said.<br \/>\n\u201cNew parties and parties that did not partake in elections will be given money according to the threshold (500 votes),\u201d Sesoane said.<br \/>\nThose that participated in the last election but did not achieve the threshold of 500 votes will not get anything.<br \/>\nAlthough this is how the campaign funds have always been distributed, some smaller parties felt that the formula gives an unfair advantage to big political parties that garnered more votes in the previous election.<br \/>\nThe Basotho Economic Enrichment (BEE) leader, Mohatle Litaba, was among those who complained bitterly.<br \/>\n\u201cHow can the IEC say we should get into the ring and fight Goliaths yet we are Davids?\u201d Litaba asked.<br \/>\n\u201cWhy did you allow us small parties to be side-lined yet we are expected to compete at the same level?\u201d Lekhotla la Mekhoa le Meetlo (LMM) leader, Malefetsane Liau, said they have always asked why the funds were not shared equally.<br \/>\n\u201cWe have been asking why we are being divided since 2012 to 2022,\u201d Liau said.<br \/>\n\u201cThe Goliaths are being made more powerful while the smallest are suppressed and given less help.\u201d<br \/>\nLiau suggested an immediate meeting to address their grievances.<br \/>\n\u201cThe leadership meeting should happen now or else it will cause problems.\u201d<br \/>\nHe said other parties are always boasting of having a lot of money but still want a share of the public funds.<br \/>\nThe IEC spokesman, Tuoe Hants\u030ci, said the issue of small parties being sidelined should be discussed among the parties instead of blaming the IEC.<br \/>\n\u201cYou should use your forums to discuss it. Ask for a meeting with the commissioners,\u201d Hants\u030ci said.<br \/>\nHants\u030ci added that although he appreciates the small parties\u2019 concerns \u201cthe IEC cannot change anything but the political party leaders have that opportunity\u201d.<br \/>\nThe Bahlabani ba Tokoloho Movement (BTM) leader, Moeketsi Mlongeni, retorted that the issue should be discussed in the same meeting \u201cbecause there are political leaders in this meeting\u201d.<br \/>\n\u201cThis meeting is for the treasurers and the leaders,\u201d Mlongeni said.<br \/>\nThe Alliance of Democrats (AD)\u2019s national treasurer, Mokoto Hloaele, insisted that only party leaders should discuss the allocation of funds.<br \/>\n\u201cIt would not be fair because other leaders are not present,\u201d Hloaele said.<br \/>\n\u201cThe invitation says only those who deal with funds would be admitted at the venue.\u201d<br \/>\nSesoane, the IEC financial officer, said the funds from the commission are strictly for campaign purposes like printing materials and transport.<br \/>\nShe said the money should not be used for salaries, rent or electricity.<br \/>\n\u201cIt should not be used to buy votes or be invested,\u201d she said.<br \/>\nParties, Sesoane said, are required to account for every cent within three months after the election.<br \/>\nThe IEC\u2019s director of legal affairs, Lehlohonolo Suping, said parties that fail to account \u201cwill face consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\">Lesotho<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. TEMPERS flared at a meeting between the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and political parties\u2019 treasurers over campaign funds. The agenda of the Tuesday meeting was to discuss how political parties would share the M5 million allocated by the government for campaign funding. The IEC also wanted to emphasise the importance of political [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12,16],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-19945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Parties fight over funds - Lesotho<\/title>\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\/parties-fight-over-funds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parties fight over funds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. TEMPERS flared at a meeting between the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and political parties\u2019 treasurers over campaign funds. The agenda of the Tuesday meeting was to discuss how political parties would share the M5 million allocated by the government for campaign funding. 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TEMPERS flared at a meeting between the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and political parties\u2019 treasurers over campaign funds. The agenda of the Tuesday meeting was to discuss how political parties would share the M5 million allocated by the government for campaign funding. 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