Mohloai Mpesi
THE inability of successive governments to last their full five-year terms had contributed immensely to skyrocketing levels of corruption in Lesotho, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) has said.
The DCEO’s Director of Public Education and Corruption Prevention, Litelu Ramokhoro, told an anti-corruption seminar in Maseru this week that far from helping curb corruption, the frequent changes of governments in Lesotho had actually exacerbated it.
The workshop, which was sponsored by the European Union, comprised of civic society organisations, Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS), Lesotho Mounted Police (LMPS) government officials, chiefs as well as councillors and District Administrators (DA), among others.
The workshop was intended for the DCEO to “re-engage with different sectors” to reflect upon the negative effects of corruption.
No government has completed a full five-year term in Lesotho since 2012.
According to Mr Ramokhoro, the trend of governments taking over and collapsing after every few years encouraged corruption. This because ministers and government officials race to steal whenever they see their regimes facing a downfall.
The political instability which had characterised Lesotho for many years had created a fertile ground for corruption.
Lesotho’s corruption levels had worsened as exemplified in the Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International. Lesotho dropped from number 55 in 2013 to 99 of 180 countries surveyed in 2022.
Mr Ramokhoro noted the drop on the Index happened cumulatively during the years of immense instability in Lesotho when governments hardly lasted two or three years.
“Naturally, corruption deepens further in situations of political instability,” Mr Ramokhoro said.
“Since 2012 we started with coalition governments and unfortunately since that time, none of the governments served their full terms,” he said.
“We are not even sure whether Mr Matekane will go the full swing, or if they will also overthrow him as they tried last October.
“This is a recipe for a country to be badly governed. Thieves of public money steal anyhow they want because they know they can’t hold onto their positions for a long time. They want to take everything before they leave their offices,” he said.
Head of the EU Delegation in Lesotho, Paola Amadei, said the EU was committed to supporting the fight against corruption.
Corruption undermined the rule of law whilst hampering sustainable human and economic development, she said.
