Bongiwe Zihlangu/‘Marafaele Mohloboli
NEW Prime Minister Sam Matekane is clearly a man on a mission. While the thousands of people who packed Setsoto Stadium for his inauguration on Friday were clearly in a carnival mood and soaking up the occasion, Mr Matekane had one thing on his mind: getting down to business “to make Lesotho great again”.
In his inauguration speech, he showed how eager he was to get started by announcing a 20-point plan to put Lesotho on course for a social and economic turnaround.
Mr Matekane’s ambitious plan, to be implemented within his first 100 days in office, includes the introduction of mandatory performance based contracts for himself and his cabinet ministers, fighting crime and corruption, reining in state spending and paying off long-suffering government suppliers.
As the Sunday Express reports in its latest edition, the plan has been welcomed by ordinary people countrywide. A cross section of society interviewed by the Sunday publication hailed what they said was the premier’s well-articulated plan. They said if implemented to the letter, it would be the right tonic for achieving sustainable socio-economic growth.
Analysts who spoke to the Lesotho Times this week, have added their voices to the chorus of praise for Mr Matekane’s moves to hit the ground running with his time-based plan of action.
They said while it was highly ambitious, it was nevertheless an attainable vision, providing Mr Matekane was “courageous enough” to walk his talk on fighting corruption and reining government expenditure among other things.
National University of Lesotho (NUL) political science lecturer, Tlohang Letsie, suggested that Mr Matekane had been hard on himself by committing to implement some policies within a relatively short time frame. Dr Letsie said some of the action points on Mr Matekane’s agenda required more than his self-imposed 100 days to be fully realised.
Nonetheless, the premier was on the right track to achieving big things, providing he had the courage to implement his vision, Dr Letsie said.
“You will recall that I have consistently emphasised the importance of Matekane having a clear plan of action with timelines,” Dr Letsie said.
“He (Matekane) has come up with timelines. Some of them may be achieved within the prescribed timeframe while others might not. However, it is commendable that he has a clear plan. He has set the ball rolling and he must have the courage to implement what he has set out to do,” Dr Letsie said. He did not elaborate on which of the action points required more than just 100 days to be fully realised.
Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) Executive Director Seabata Motsamai, concurred. He was particularly impressed by Mr Matekane’s bold plan to tackle malfeasance in the civil service and instil professionalism.
“He has set the ball rolling to revive the civil service which is festered with unproductive workers. For cracking the whip, Mr Matekane deserves praise. It is not a secret that civil servants have been sitting on their laurels, with their ties loosened and doing absolutely nothing. Matekane is now demanding to know who is doing what and we can certainly expect results if he follows through on his pledge to ensure professionalism in the civil service,” Mr Motsamai said.
The premier made it clear that his government would rein in excessive government expenditure. To this end, he said his government immediately begin investigations into the M6, 1 billion government funds which Auditor General, Monica Besetsa, said could not be accounted for in the 2020/21 financial year. Ms Besetsa made the findings in her latest report on government revenues for the financial year which ended on 31 March 2021.
Much to the delight and approval of the vociferous and appreciative crowd at Setsoto Stadium on Friday, Mr Matekane said the probe into the funds, which could not be accounted for by the previous Moeketsi Majoro-led government, must begin and the findings should be made public within 15 days of the completion of the probe.
Commenting on the planned probe, Mr Motsamai was full of praise for Mr Matekane for “asking critical questions” and coming up with proactive measures to fix revenue leakages in government.
“The unaccounted for M6, 1 billion can be attributed to several factors ranging from corruption to failure by those responsible for disbursing government monies to follow rules of the system.
“Matekane is asking simple yet critical questions. What could have led to the disappearance of M6, 1 billion? Is it because of corruption? He (Matekane) is saying, let us get to the bottom of it all.
“We have many cases of corruption and Matekane is saying that people must return what they stole from government in exchange for an amnesty. Return what you stole and be allowed to go free. Those who reject the amnesty will be hauled before the courts of law. All that I can say, is that Matekane must crack the whip. His programme is clear and attainable,” Mr Motsamai said.
On his part, Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) Director, Tsikoane Peshoane, said although Mr Matekane had come up with a commendable action plan, the issues he intends to address are perhaps “too many to be addressed within the timelines he has set for himself”.
“I believe that the contents of Matekane’s programme of action are attainable but some of them will not be achieved in 100 days. I believe that it is possible to have feedback on the missing M6, 1 billion within the set 15 days. The results of the preliminary investigations should be there with recommendations on the way forward.
“Even if he may not achieve everything he has set out to do, it will be important for Matekane to issue a progress report at the end of the 100 days. Communication is very important and he must keep Basotho up to speed on his progress. It’s critical that the steps and stages towards the attainment of his goals are documented. However, his technocrats must be careful not to expose those areas that he would not have succeeded in, as it would be politically suicidal to even consider admitting to Basotho that he might have been too ambitious,” Mr Peshoane said.
He said the premier may not be able to implement his objectives due to budgetary constraints. For now the new government would be working with what remains of the 2022/23 budget which was approved by the previous Majoro administration. The government would only be able to fully implement any capital projects and other objectives when it has passed its own budget next year, Mr Peshoane added.
“I don’t see him (Matekane) fulfilling the commitments he has made any time before June next year, because for now his government will operate on the previous administration’s budget. Whatever remains of the current fiscal year’s budget might not align with his policies or priorities. But next year, he should be able to pass a budget that aligns with his vision,” Mr Peshoane said.
