MASERU — Opposition political parties on Tuesday told the Sadc Electoral Advisory Council (Seac) that they do not recognise Pakalitha Mosisili as Lesotho’s prime minister after he formed a new government last week.
The Sadc delegation arrived in the country on Monday to assess Lesotho’s election preparedness, about two months before a general election that is likely to be held in May.
The opposition leaders told a press conference yesterday that they told the Sadc delegation that Lesotho did not currently have a valid government after Mosisili dumped the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) and formed the Democratic Congress last week.
They said the DC was “illegally declared the government by National Assembly Speaker on Tuesday last week”.
Senkatana Party leader, Lehlohonolo Tšehlana, said they asked the Sadc team to go back and inform the Sadc Troika on Politics, Defence and Security that Mosisili’s premiership “is not welcome because it is unconstitutional”.
The Sadc delegation’s visit came a few days after United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, said Lesotho’s political situation “is worrying”.
Ki Moon made the remarks after Mosisili and 44 other MPs of the LCD broke away and formed the DC.
Parliamentary Speaker Ntlhoi Motsamai then declared it as the new government.
The DC’s taking over as government is likely to trigger a constitutional crisis as opposition parties have approached the High Court to declare it unconstitutional.
The opposition has also called for the arrest of Mosisili and Motsamai for toppling a legitimate government.
Lesotho Workers Party deputy leader, Sello Maphalla, who has been appointed by the opposition to take the matter to court, said there is no other alternative but to take legal action against the Speaker.
The opposition said it did not have powers to convene the Council of State and ask it to advise King Letsie III to reverse Motsamai’s decision.
The African Unity Movement leader, Paanya Phoofolo, said the State Council was “such a bad composition of public servants who pay allegiance to the Prime Minister of the day”.
“The Speaker’s action was unconstitutional and the MPs could not call the State Council to advise it otherwise,” Phoofolo said.
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