’Marafaele Mohloboli
LESOTHO has travelled an arduous journey over the last 54 years so much that Basotho must introspect while celebrating the country’s independence, His Majesty King Letsie has said.
He said this in a televised address to commemorate the country’s 54th independence anniversary on Sunday.
Lesotho got its independence from Britain on 4 October 1966.
And His Majesty said Basotho must introspect and look at the tough journey that they have travelled since 1966.
“It has been a tough journey for all of us, we have had our ups and downs and therefore, need to introspect,” King Letsie III said.
He acknowledged the government’s strides in shaping and boosting the country’s economy by constructing infrastructure and providing services to the public. While lots of work has been done in constructing roads and offering services like electrification, communications infrastructure, health facilities and schools, a lot more must be done to cover the whole country.
The King said Lesotho has endured instability since independence which has weakened governance and the economy but “we still have to thank the Lord for keeping us intact as a nation which still has its country and cultural values”.
He said in celebrating the country’s 50th independence, Basotho undertook to work together in the next 50 years.
“It is on this basis that I urge us all to renew our vow to bear true allegiance to our country and its economic growth for a better Lesotho for all, so that together we can conquer hunger and poverty.
“The journey of distress that we have walked thus far has taught us that stability and economic growth can only be attained through the reforms process, and it is promising to see that there is progress with the establishment of the National Reforms Authority (NRA) and its secretariat which shall help it implement the people’s decisions.
“It is therefore, my special appeal to all stakeholders in the reforms process to ensure that this is done expeditiously and cautiously to strengthen our pillars of governance towards attaining peace, stability and economic growth,” His Majesty stated.
He said this year’s celebrations were under particularly difficult conditions because of the Covid-19 pandemic. He expressed gratitude to frontline medical staff and the rest of the country for adhering to World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
The pandemic has also brought some lessons for people to provide for themselves.
“As the African Union Champion on Nutrition and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Special Ambassador for nutrition, I appeal to all of you to start sowing at the slightest sign of rains to secure food that will help ensure good nutrition for your households as hunger alone can kill us even more than Covid-19 if proper measures are not in place to combat it,” His Majesty said.
