Moroke Sekoboto
PRIME Minister Sam Matekane this week unveiled his detailed report on his government’s performance during its first 100 days in office.
While some analysts are impressed, others say he could have done better.
While others are happy with the progress in implementing his 21-point plan, they still concede he still needs to do more if he is to improve the lives of Basotho, as he has repeatedly exhorted.
Mr Thabo Qhesi of the Private Sector Foundation of Lesotho (PSFL) believes Matekane’s government has fairly implemented its 21-point plan.
He also applauds the government for its unprecedented move in engaging the public while unveiling its first 100 days in office. He says the public dialogue Mr Matekane and his ministers held in Maseru this week to report on their initial 100-day workplan exemplified their attempts at fostering good governance and transparency.
“I would give them 50 percent for achieving what they had promised. People must be patient as it is impossible for the new government to do everything at one go while facing severe budget constraints,” Mr Qhesi said.
“I also congratulate them for holding a public dialogue to report back to the people on their efforts…. That is what public servants must do. That is all in line with the law (Article 91, 92 of the Public Service Regulations 2008) which requires public servants to provide periodic reviews and reports about their work,” Mr Qhesi said.
“Let’s give them more time and see what they will achieve…. They appear to be on the right track…
Mr Qhesi said they were ministries that had not made good presentations of their efforts in the first 100 days. These should be given more time to put their houses in order.
Independent economics commentator, Letsatsi Sephepha, said Mr Matekane’s government had only implemented the administrative part of the promised 21 points while neglecting the technical parts. He believes Mr Matekane has thus far failed to take any meaningful measures to combat crime, grow the economy, create jobs, and rehabilitate roads and other infrastructure, among other key promises in the premier’s 21-point plan.
“In his statement (this week) he spoke as if he’s achieved them (the 21 points) all but his progress is more administrative and not technical……He has engaged with civil servants in different ministries to improve performance but implementation on the ground is not visible,” Mr Sephepha said.
“In general, technical performance in ministries is not so satisfactory. For example, he had promised to rehabilitate roads in 100 days, but failed. It looks like he was targeting mainly Maseru….But some of the roads in the city were already being fixed by the Roads Directorate……He does not seem to have initiated any new road rehabilitation roads,” he said.
“He had also promised to end crime, invite investors to create jobs. But as we speak there have been over 3000 job losses in the government at his own behest… At the Ministry of Home Affairs people continue to struggle to get passports, hence I say the implementation is administrative not technical. He had promised to end livestock theft, gruesome murders and introduce a rapid response system to crime but none of that has been implemented.”
Added Mr Sephepha: “Livestock theft is still rife, people are still being murdered despite him establishing a team of all security agencies to combat crime, and if one calls the police, the response remains the same; ‘there is no vehicle’. I believe he made progress in administrative issues in his first 100 days but failed on technical issues.”
For his part, Professor Motlamelle Kapa of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the National University of Lesotho (NUL), said Mr Matekane had carved an ambitious programme that needed time to be implemented.
He said he believes the government must expedite implementation of the national reforms programme failing which all its other efforts would prove futile. A lot of what Mr Matekane wanted to achieve hinged on the successful implementation of the reforms.
“He (Matekane) had a highly ambitious programme, and I believe he has generally made a good start… He is trying by all means to promote accountability and transparency in government. That is a very good effort that we have not seen before…Lets acknowledge that,” Prof Kapa said.
“He had promised to narrow down the public sector wage bill… He cut the cabinet from 37 to 15…. That is a commendable effort seeing that the National Reforms Authority had proposed a total of 21 cabinet ministers. He established a team consisting of all security agencies to tackle crime, crime is now contained. It is not like before when we would have daily murders and robberies…I can see good progress and let’s encourage him,” Prof Kapa said.
“As a way of cutting the wage bill, he is also cleaning the public service and eliminating jobs that were created illegally by the previous parties …he is doing that without being deterred by the political noise …That’s a good thing and proves that he is a resolute leader.”
However, Prof Kapa implored Mr Matekane to come up with a comprehensive and convincing economic and job creation policy to curtail high poverty levels in Lesotho.
It was also unrealistic to expect him to have achieved everything in the first 100 days in office. The nation needed to give the premier more time to implement his agenda. He nonetheless should prioritize the completion of the reforms to make his work easier, Prof Kapa said.
Political analyst Lefu Thaela is not impressed with Mr Matekane’s first 100 days in office. He says Mr Matekane hasn’t achieved much in terms of all his pledges to fight crime, create jobs, rehabilitate infrastructure and improve service delivery. Even though the public dialogue to report back on the premier’s first 100 days in office appeared positive, Mr Matekane should have delivered in his pledge to publish the performance contracts of his ministers. As their leader, he should be able to comprehensively evaluate their work and report to the electorate.
Prof Thaela said he is yet to see any difference between Mr Matekane’s performance and that of his predecessors.