–Defends his board against unfair criticism
–Says it is doing all it can to restore a critical institution
Thabo Khasipe, the chairman of the board of directors of the Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC), says it is important that Basotho understand that him and his board did not create the mess at the crucial power utility.
They had merely been appointed a few months back to clear the mess and restore order at the parastatal. It was therefore unfortunate that the board was now being painted as the one that had created the problems and was now evading accountability
Mr Khasipe clarifies issues in an OPED piece he wrote for the Lesotho Times, which we publish in full on Page 13 of this edition.
It follows a barrage of criticism against Mr Khasipe and the board after they went to court to try and halt the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee from continuing with its investigation of the LEC.
Social media users have hence accused Mr Khasipe and his board of seeking to use the courts to hide corruption and mismanagement at the LEC.
Criticism against Mr Khasipe and his board intensified after Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane dismissed their urgent application to halt the PAC inquiry. Mr Khasipe says the board will happily appear before the PAC next week.
But he emphasizes that their effort to have the PAC inquiry delayed was not because they want to hide anything. To the contrary they are seized with the enormous work of sorting out the problems at the LEC. All they require is the space and time to do so.
His board had only been appointed a few months back and was trying to understand and resolve the issues. It was therefore “dangerously absurd’ that it could now be accused of trying to cover up the problems it inherited and was appointed to overcome.
“How could a Board that only took office months ago be running from accountability for a damning external audit report covering financial statements for 2022/23 – literally two years before our appointment?.
“Why would we “run to court” to shield ourselves from responsibility for events that unfolded under previous regimes?” asks Mr Khasipe in his article.
To fully understand why his board had opted or court action, Mr Khasipe advised citizens to read the full court papers on record and, not just the “headlines or viral snippets”.
“The truth, as always, lies in the details—not in the drama….The root cause of LEC’s problems over the years is the drama. To be precise, the political drama that has defined our beloved country over the past decades,” states Mr Khasipe.
ICU
When the new Board was inducted between November and December 2024, it found the LEC “in the intensive care unit”.
The company’s financial and control systems were a complete chaos, Mr Khasipe explains. Its ethical climate was toxic, riddled with evidence of fraud, dysfunction, and generally low staff morale.
The Auditor General had been frustrated at her failure to access information to carry out her work. Management had failed to furnish records for audit. The board’s audit committee was to have a firsthand experience of this malaise when it too could not meet the LEC’s management to access information to do its work.
It had taken the board’s decisive action for the management to cooperate with the Auditor-General resulting in her disclaimer opinion.
It became very clear to the new board that the country was sitting on a ticking time bomb. It wasn’t just a red flag – it was a whole deck of them, explains Mr Khasipe.
The previously profitable LEC now sits on the edge of a financial precipice with accumulated debts of over M800 million with draft annual financial statements for the just ended 2024/25 Financial Year indicating a staggering loss of M290 million.
Mr Khasipe argues his board is now on a mission to reverse this slide which threatens national interests. It should be given space and time to do so.
Political Interference
Mr Khasipe cites political interference in the affairs of the LEC as the root cause of its malaise. In November 2024, his board commissioned a turnaround strategy with the help of external consultants.
“Unsurprisingly, the strategy identified political interference as the root cause of many of LEC’s ailments…….” Mr Khasipe declared.
“Politicians have over the years brought the LEC to where it is is today….” he states in a seemingly frank assessment of the state of affairs at the beleaguered paraststal.
“The problem with political appointments is that they not only sideline qualified candidates but also set up unqualified appointees to fail, exposing their incompetence.
“LEC shows clear signs of systemic leadership failure, reflected in its chaotic internal control environment. Beyond financial losses, this has eroded human capital, leading to low staff morale, unfair labor practices, and a leadership blind to the link between financial and human resources. This new board cannot fix this overnight, but pretending it’s business as usual would be leadership malpractice.”
Acting Allowances
Mr Khasipe also rejects accusations that his board has added to the LEC’s financial woes by paying huge “irregular” allowances to those acting in the positions of the suspended executive management team.
He explains why the controversy over the acting allowances is unnecessary and why it is wrong to accuse his board of flouting a 2021 policy directive on acting allowances. In fact no such policy prescribing a 10 percent ceiling on acting allowances exists. The board had followed the correct procedures in paying the allowances.
The controversy over acting allowances had actually exposed the glaring discrepancies in the LEC’s remuneration policies wherein senior management earned hefty salaries while others earned far less, resulting in depressed staff morale.
Despite what he describes as the “noise and misinformation”, Mr Khasipe says the task before his board is very clear. The LEC is a national asset in distress—but not beyond repair. His board was putting in place a credible path for the parastatal’s recovery. It has worked hard to develop a turnaround proposal that addresses LEC’s operational, financial, and cultural failures head-on. The board needs time to resolve the problems of the LEC- at least one year – before its efforts can be judged.
Contrary to perceptions that it was trying to evade accountability, the board will avail itself before the PAC. It hopes to be treated fairly and given an opportunity to explain the issues. When issues are properly understood, all stakeholders are better placed to put their heads together to resolve and restore an institution that is central to the country’s developmental trajectory.
In his own words – Read Mr Khasipe’s full detailed explanation on Page 13.
