{"id":29742,"date":"2023-06-08T12:01:38","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T12:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms"},"modified":"2023-06-08T12:15:35","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T12:15:35","slug":"push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms","title":{"rendered":"Push for mediator to drive reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>THE government is seeking a mediator to break an impasse with the opposition after sharp differences emerged over how to proceed with the reforms agenda. The two sides had a heated debate in parliament this week over the Omnibus Bill.<\/p>\n

With tempers flaring, the opposition allegedly gave the government an ultimatum: stop firing principal secretaries or they would not support the Omnibus Bill where it needs a two-thirds majority.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Nthomeng Majara said the government has already \u201casked the mediator to come and bring the two disputing sides together\u201d.<\/p>\n

Justice Majara said the government side had proposed that the Omnibus Bill, also called the 11th Amendment to the Constitution, should be passed in parliament in three phases.<\/p>\n

The first phase, she said, would be Bills that merely require a simple majority for them to pass in parliament and be enacted into law. The second phase would be the Bills that would require a two-thirds majority while the third one would be those that require a referendum.<\/p>\n

The government also proposed the establishment of a body that would continue the job left by the now defunct National Reforms Authority (NRA). The opposition had none of it. The opposition wants a full package of the Omnibus Bill to be passed into law as it was prepared under the previous regime.<\/p>\n

The leader of Areka Covenant Front for Development (Baena), Paul Masiu, who represents the coalition of Baena, the Lesotho People\u2019s Congress (LPC) and the Lesotho Workers Party (LWP) in parliament, said \u201cthe opposition threatened not to support the reforms process that needs a two-thirds majority\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opposition said if the government does not stop firing the principal secretaries they would not support it to pass the reforms where a two-thirds majority is needed,\u201d Masiu said.<\/p>\n

He however told thepost that he does agree with this proposal. \u201cThe opposition parties want the Bill passed as it is because it was done during their regime,\u201d Masiu, who was not in parliament in the past government, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do not want things to change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is madness.<\/p>\n

\u201d He said the opposition parties are also not happy that the government plans to bring the original copy that was the National Reforms Authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want things to be done their own way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the government has invited all political leaders in parliament to attend a meeting that will be held at \u2019Manthabiseng Convention Centre today to deal with the disputes over the Omnibus Bill.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s proposal is that the Bill should be split into three parts, a simple majority, two-thirds majority and the referendum. In the statement, it is suggested that after the amendments have entered parliament, there should be an authority to help enhance the reforms.<\/p>\n

Because of their differences as politicians on the reforms issues, the government said they will also seek an independent mediator to get in between where there are conflicts.<\/p>\n

The Basotho National Party (BNP) leader, Machesetsa Mofomobe, argued that the government \u201cshould not have a piecemeal approach to the reforms process\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need the full package of the reforms,\u201d Mofomobe said, arguing that \u201cthe government wants to fiddle with the reforms\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the reforms as they were after being packaged by the previous parliament,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the government wants to deal with the reforms in pieces because it wants to prioritise those it wants with the aim to create jobs for friends of the ruling parties.<\/p>\n

Mofomobe stood up with a motion in parliament that the whole package of the Omnibus Bill should be passed into law. He said the Speaker of Parliament, Tlohang Sekhamane, wrote back to him that his motion has financial implications therefore he should go slow on it.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE government is seeking a mediator to break an impasse with the opposition after sharp differences emerged over how to proceed with the reforms agenda. The two sides had a heated debate in parliament this week over the Omnibus Bill. With tempers flaring, the opposition allegedly gave the government an ultimatum: stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":29741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-29742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nPush for mediator to drive reforms - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE government is seeking a mediator to break an impasse with the opposition after sharp differences emerged over how to ...\" \/>\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\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Push for mediator to drive reforms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE government is seeking a mediator to break an impasse with the opposition after sharp differences emerged over how to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms\" \/>\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=\"2023-06-08T12:01:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-08T12:15:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1686210190.259989.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\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=\"3 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\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Push for mediator to drive reforms\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-08T12:01:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-08T12:15:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms\"},\"wordCount\":646,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1686210190.259989.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/push-for-mediator-to-drive-reforms\",\"name\":\"Push for mediator to drive reforms - 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