{"id":34416,"date":"2023-10-05T15:06:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T15:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition"},"modified":"2023-10-05T15:18:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T15:18:15","slug":"mp-defies-party-backs-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition","title":{"rendered":"MP defies party, backs opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>MOHLOMINYANE Tota, the only MP for the United for Change (UFC), has defied the party\u2019s order to stop voting with the opposition in parliament. Tota, the UFC\u2019s deputy leader, told thepost this week that he will vote, guided by his own conscience, and not the party\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n

His defiance comes after the party publicly chastised him for voting with the opposition in parliament. A fightnight ago, Tota angered his party when he sided with the opposition to vote against the government\u2019s motion to continue discussing the reforms\u2019 Omnibus Bill despite that it was being challenged in the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n

The government however won with 57 votes against the opposition\u2019s 50. The UFC issued a statement reprimanding Tota for defying its decision to always vote with the government.<\/p>\n

But Tota told thepost this week that he was unfazed by the party\u2019s warning. \u201cI will continue to vote with the opposition where need be, and I will also vote with the government where need be,\u201d Tota said.<\/p>\n

He said he respects the party\u2019s position but \u201cI also have a right to follow my conscience\u201d. This, he added, is because \u201cit is not mandatory for an MP to toe the party line even when his conscience does not allow it\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said whether he will vote with the government or the opposition will depend \u201con the issue on the table\u201d. He said his conscience would not allow him to vote with the government on the Omnibus Bill motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was wrong,\u201d Tota said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will do the same again given another chance.<\/p>\n

\u201d Tota\u2019s response comes three days after the UFC issued a statement distancing itself from his stance in parliament.<\/p>\n

The party said its national executive committee had an urgent meeting over the weekend to discuss Tota\u2019s behaviour. It said its position is to always support Prime Minister Sam Matekane\u2019s coalition government.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018The issue has caused a lot of confusion in the party and among Basotho at large,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n

The party also said Tota did not bother to inform the national executive committee about his decision so that he could get a new mandate. \u201cHe did not even inform the committee before voting,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe national executive committee held an intensive meeting with Tota about the matter because the purpose of the party is to support the government,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

The UFC said where the government goes wrong \u201cthe party will continue to confront it with peace and not with a fight\u201d (sic). \u201cWe have confidence in the current government because it was voted in by Basotho.<\/p>\n

\u201d The UFC\u2019s statement makes it clear that the party \u201cwill not support anything against the government\u201d.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. MOHLOMINYANE Tota, the only MP for the United for Change (UFC), has defied the party\u2019s order to stop voting with the opposition in parliament. Tota, the UFC\u2019s deputy leader, told thepost this week that he will vote, guided by his own conscience, and not the party\u2019s instructions. His defiance comes after the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":34415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,10],"tags":[233,246,245,163],"class_list":["post-34416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-parties","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-parliament"],"yoast_head":"\nMP defies party, backs opposition - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MOHLOMINYANE Tota, the only MP for the United for Change (UFC), has defied the party\u2019s order to stop voting with the opp ...\" \/>\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\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MP defies party, backs opposition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MOHLOMINYANE Tota, the only MP for the United for Change (UFC), has defied the party\u2019s order to stop voting with the opp ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition\" \/>\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=\"2023-10-05T15:06:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-05T15:18:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1696506409.74849.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\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=\"2 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\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MP defies party, backs opposition\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-05T15:06:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-05T15:18:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition\"},\"wordCount\":470,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/10\/sm_1696506409.74849.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Parliament\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mp-defies-party-backs-opposition\",\"name\":\"MP defies party, backs opposition - 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