Mohloai Mpesi
…as he scoops five awards
FORMER Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, has received five honorary awards in recognition of his leadership and efforts to address socio-economic challenges during his time in office.
Dr Mosisili, who served as prime minister for a combined 17 years, was presented with the awards in Harare, Zimbabwe, last month.
The awards are the Visionary Award, African Leader Icon Award, Global Humanitarian Award, Global Visionary Award and Monique Royal Tucker Award.
The Monique Royal Tucker Award was conferred by iChange Nations, an organisation that seeks to equip and mentor individuals to positively influence nations. The organisation promotes global change and civility while recognising individuals for their humanitarian work and leadership.
One of the award citations praised Dr Mosisili for his “exceptional leadership, steadfast integrity and enduring commitment to elevate others”, adding that his vision and service had strengthened communities and inspired meaningful progress.
Another award, presented by Civility Voice Diplomats (CVD), recognised his contribution to humanitarian action, peace, civility, diplomacy and transformational leadership.
The citation said the award was conferred in accordance with the principles of the United Nations and the values of International Humanitarian Law.
Speaking to the Lesotho Times yesterday, Dr Mosisili said the awards were largely in recognition of programmes his government introduced to tackle HIV/AIDS and improve the lives of ordinary Basotho.
He cited free primary education, school feeding schemes, the old age pension and efforts to expand access to healthcare as some of the initiatives that earned him the honours.
“When I went to Harare, I knew I was going to receive an award. But, surprisingly, when I got there that evening, they kept calling my name to collect more awards. These awards are given by African Americans,” he said.
Dr Mosisili said his government had introduced impactful programmes at a time when HIV/AIDS was ravaging the country.
“We worked on impactful programmes that directly affected people’s lives during the time when HIV/AIDS was rampant in the country.
“We introduced free primary education, the old age pension and other programmes that directly affected people’s lives. It is on the strength of those initiatives that I was given the awards,” he said.
He also pointed to the removal of charges at hospitals and clinics, particularly at clinics, to ensure that people could access healthcare even when they had no money.
He said the recognition had left him humbled, although he was disappointed that it had come from outside Lesotho rather than his own country.
“I am humbled. The only sad thing about it is that I am being recognised and honoured by a foreign organisation, not by my own country. There is a saying that a prophet is not welcome in their own home, but the Americans realised that I deserve these awards,” he said.
Dr Mosisili served as prime minister from May 1998 to June 2012 under the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), and again from March 2015 to June 2017 under the Democratic Congress (DC).
He took over the leadership of the LCD from the late Ntsu Mokhehle in 1998 before forming the DC in 2012. He announced his retirement from active politics in November 2018.
Among the key initiatives introduced during his tenure was free primary education in 2000, which opened school doors to thousands of children who had previously been unable to afford school fees.
Dr Mosisili said the programme was accompanied by school feeding schemes to ensure that children received balanced meals while at school.
He had hoped that subsequent governments would extend free education to secondary schools, arguing that many children who benefited from free primary education were forced to abandon their studies when they reached secondary level because of school fees.
“In education, we started with free primary education and strengthened feeding schemes so that children could eat balanced meals at school.
“I was hoping that those who came after me would extend free primary education to secondary schools,” he said.
His government also introduced the textbook rental scheme to ease the financial burden on parents.
Dr Mosisili said textbooks were expensive, with some costing more than M1 000, prompting his government to introduce a system of buying books on behalf of state-funded schools for learners to rent at a fee of M200 for the learning period.
“When schools open, every child receives all the books. So, no child is left behind because their parents do not have money for textbooks. They all start on an equal footing,” he said.
He said the introduction of free primary education led to a significant increase in school enrolment, forcing his government to construct more schools.
“We realised that many children went to primary school because there were no school fees, but they failed to continue with their studies because, when they reached secondary school, there were fees and they dropped out.
“I still hope that governments, including the current one, which has a year left in office, can take cognisance of this issue because it is important.
“When we introduced free education, many children who had been sitting at home flocked to schools once they heard about free primary education,” he said.
Dr Mosisili added that his government had also built public schools at a time when most schools were owned by churches.
“So many children flocked to schools that we had to build new ones. Even today, there has never been a government in Lesotho that has built more schools than ours. At that time, schools belonged to churches, so we also had to build public schools,” he said.
Beyond education and healthcare, Dr Mosisili said Lesotho needed to rethink its education system to address unemployment.
He argued that the current curriculum largely prepared learners to seek employment rather than create jobs using the skills they acquired.
“There is something wrong with the type of education that people receive. It prepares people to be employed, but they cannot use their hands or skills to create employment for themselves.
“These days, technology is popular, and we have to introduce technological skills in schools so that children can earn an income, whether they are employed or not,” he said.
He said he was impressed by Limkokwing University of Creative Technology’s approach to producing graduates who could create employment rather than depend on it.
“That is why I was impressed by Limkokwing University of Creative Technology. They said they did not teach people who would walk around with brown envelopes containing CVs, seeking jobs.
“They said they were going to produce creators of employment, not seekers of employment. They won my heart. It is what we have to do, regardless of the sector,” he said.
Dr Mosisili also expressed concern about the state of agricultural education, saying the country was failing to make adequate use of the skills and resources available at its agricultural institutions.
He said he was saddened by the sight of overgrown grass at the Agricultural College, which he recalled had once supplied vegetables to the town.
He argued that graduates should be supported with agricultural inputs to establish their own production ventures instead of waiting for government employment.
“I am hurt when I pass by the Agricultural College and see a lot of grass there. There was a time when this town bought vegetables from that institution.
“Now, when students graduate, they expect the government to give them jobs. Yet, to fight unemployment, the government should provide them with inputs so that they can plant, produce food and sell it. They should use the skills they acquired at the college to make a living instead of waiting for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition to employ them,” he said.
