ABC Secretary General Samonyane Ntsekele
Billy Ntaote
OPPOSITION parties and civil society organisations have condemned the Ministry of Finance’s decision to seize funds earmarked for administering local government elections to pay off debts incurred for vehicle fleet services.
This was after the ministry decided to withdraw M54 million from the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) coffers to pay off arrears with Bidvest Bank Limited.
According to a letter written by the Finance ministry’s Principal Secretary Tom Mpeta the money would pay off a shortfall in paying for services rendered by the vehicle fleet firm in its initial six-month contract.
Mr Mpeta also says the IEC would not need the money this year since the local government elections, which were scheduled for October this year, were postponed to next year because they clashed with the 50th independence celebrations.
Bidvest was originally awarded a six-month contract to run the government fleet from 1 October 2015 to 31 March 2016 after the expiry of the government’s fleet management contract with Avis.
It has since been awarded a 48-month contract to hire vehicles to the government amid allegations of corruption in the deal.
All Basotho Convention (ABC) Secretary-General Samonyane Ntsekele described the decision as “corrupt and negligent” in an interview with the Lesotho Times.
“As the ABC, we don’t tolerate acts of corruption. It seems the Bidvest deal is intended to exploit our country’s resources and even exhaust the reserves for the benefit of a small clique in government,” he said.
“They erode the country’s wealth for their own personal enrichment. The Bidvest deal doesn’t serve Basotho’s interests.”
Mr Ntsekele said Finance Minister Dr ’Mamphono Khaketla’s decision to withdraw the IEC’s funds was tantamount to denying the electorate their fundamental right to suffrage.
“We denounce this heinous act of denying Basotho their right to vote for a local government authority of their choice through abuse of power and diverting funds towards supporting corrupt self-enrichment deals. ABC won’t keep mum about these deplorable acts,” he said.
“The very same people entrusted with safeguarding the people’s coffers are mismanaging the taxes. How can the minister take away a whooping M54 million from an election process that had already started.”
Mr Ntsekele added: “We had already spent about M10 million towards the local government elections and this act will derail all the progress made and render everything done towards the elections null and void.
“What will be our response to those development partners who are always kind enough to lend us a helping hand if we throw away M10 million worth of work because of our corrupt deals; this is despicable.”
Basotho National Party (BNP) Secretary-General Reginald Tekateka echoed the sentiment, saying they condemned the decision “unreservedly”.
Mr Tekateka said it was unacceptable for funds to be taken away from the IEC, which he said was central to strengthening democracy in Lesotho. He said they would express their disdain with the decision during an IEC meeting with political parties scheduled for today.
“We will be going to the IEC meeting and we will clearly not stand by to watch such despicable things being done to support corrupt deals at the expense of our democracy,” added Mr Tekateka.
Also commenting on the issue, Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) Executive Secretary, Seabata Motsamai, said the decision by Dr Khaketla and Mr Mpeta showed their “lack of vision and inability to protect the country’s nascent democracy”.
Mr Motsamai said it was wrong for politicians to agree to the postponement of the local government elections.
“For politicians to have agreed to the postponement of the elections was wrong, and now the government has shown it has no interest in doing anything in good faith,” he said.
“The government is not respectful to its citizenry and these are all indicators showing they are bordering on dictatorial tendencies.”
Mr Motsamai said all the progress made by the IEC in preparing for the polls would go to waste due to the withdrawal of the funds for other government business.
“It is also appalling that they are diverting the funds towards the scandalous fleet services deal. If the money was diverted towards health or agriculture or mitigating the effects of climate change, we would understand the reasoning. This is unacceptable,” he added.
