Utloang Kajeno
THE Maseru Facilitation Declaration, facilitated by South Africa’s Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is a welcome development, since the coalition government has, for all practical reasons, ceased to exist. The key components of the Declaration are that Parliament will be reconvened for the business of preparing the way for the general elections around February 2015 and passing the budget. There will not be a no-confidence vote and floor-crossing by members of the august house.
However, much as these conditions are truly commendable, Lesotho’s political problems are far too deep-seated and need to be addressed at some stage in the not too distant future else they will recur with disastrous consequences for Basotho and Southern African Development Community.
Granted, Mr Ramaphosa’s mandate was only to prepare a roadmap for early elections which he commendably has achieved. However, these agreements are not a panacea for all the country’s ills. There are far deeper underlying problems that need to be addressed at a larger forum and at a later stage in our political history. Unfortunately, all the symptoms and not the causes have been addressed. The solution has been rather superficial, I reckon.
For instance, does Lesotho really need an army? Secondly, how best can Basotho, SADC in general and South Africa, in particular, help this country out of the corruption and economic quagmire it is still wallowing in?
Thirdly, how do we, with the assistance of SADC, find a lasting and viable solution to Lesotho’s myriad political problems?
Fourthly, what role does the institution of the monarchy play in the future political landscape of Lesotho? Fifthly, do we continue with the present political dispensation where even small role players, who garnered inconsequential votes in the general election, play a pivotal role in the affairs of state?
These are some of the salient questions that need to be addressed if we are to find a lasting solution to our many problems as a nation going forward.
I will, in this column, endeavor to suggest ways of solving these problems. Firstly, the army needs to be dissolved or demobilised completely from our security landscape.
So that you the reader may well understand my argument on this one, let me make this example. A corn farmer, in this case, Basotho or government, rears a lion as a pet, then this lion kills the farmers’ dogs as a result his whole harvest gets stolen by thieves.
This is exactly the scenario that obtains in Lesotho, whereby the army that is financed by the taxpayer and government regularly kills and attacks police, who are there to keep away criminals and ensure legality and stability, thereby ensuring foreign direct investment.
By the same analogy, the farmer’s family starves because there is a pet lion on the loose, harassing and even devouring the very family. This is exactly what the Lesotho army is doing to this traumatised nation and the police. They are even a threat to foreign investors, and as a result government is short of revenue for developmental purposes.
I will again use an unfortunately violent but appropriate analogy to describe the reign of fired Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) commander, Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli. It is like putting a hammer in someone’s hand. It can be used in accordance with its purpose: to knock-in nails or to bash-in skulls. Unfortunately, throughout its history in Lesotho, barring a few negligible months when it did its job, the army has been the source of all our political woes. It has been misused by politicians to suppress and even kill, the citizenry.
All the previous regimes or political formations in Lesotho have unfortunately misused the army. Previous attempts to de-politicise the army have all come to naught. Presently, it is being misused by the Democratic Congress – Lesotho Congress for Democracy axis to good effect. All because one renegade general is pandering to the whims of a political formation.
A cursory look at Lesotho’s annual budget will reflect that the army gets allocated a huge percentage of the national budget yet ministries that are mandated for the developmental needs of Lesotho operate on a meagre allocation.
In all fairness to them, we do not need an army. We are wholly surrounded by giant South Africa, which is not a threat to us at all. Anybody who wants to attack us first has to go through South Africa.
In effect, South Africa takes care of all our security needs. The huge finances that are unfortunately being expended on the army could profitably and meaningful be diverted to developmental needs where they are needed most. Now, ironically, this country lacks stability because of the army that is bankrolled and manned by the very people it is supposed to protect.
What this country needs is an efficient, well-equipped, apolitical police force.
Owing to the historic and economic reality of Lesotho, this country was designed as a labour reservoir for South Africa, with no viable economy to speak of. Getting into the few government jobs, available particularly cabinet positions is unfortunately the only way of getting wealthy. The economic cake is too small to share equally amongst ourselves and this, coupled with corruption and sheer greed force some unscrupulous politicians to cling to power or better still orchestrate means to unseat governments so they may get all these meagre resources all to themselves alone.
Up to this day, the Unites States still bankrolls Israel and Egypt, to save them from economic collapse and instability, which unfortunately still obtains in the latter.
In like manner, despite its myriad of economic problems, South Africa, is obligated to bankroll Lesotho economically so that we may have the so-called second-economy, if only to ensure a stable, tiny democracy in its womb.
Coupled with the joint Lesotho Highlands project and its many investments in Lesotho, big brother South Africa has a huge role to play in Lesotho. If only also to extend its inevitable leverage on Lesotho’s affairs. Else if South Africa does not help we will forever remain that restive kingdom in its womb.
In all fairness to Lesotho, we are wholly and entirely dependent on South Africa. We have got no economy that we can call our own let alone sustain us. All our skilled manpower have left this land for the greener pastures of mostly South Africa. So I would urge South Africa to come up with a Marshall Plan for Lesotho, akin to the United States’ plan for Europe after the Second World War.
Thirdly, SADC, particularly South Africa, as they have shown have a huge role to play in Lesotho’s political and economic affairs, whether we like it or not. South Africans and SADC should however, blend their suggestions to the solution of our problems, having regard and taking on board, our history, culture, institutions and power brokers as well as local stakeholders.
South Africa, to its credit, is arguably the only country on earth, blessed with so many Nobel Peace Laureates in Messrs Albert Luthuli, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and FW de Klerk. Add to the repertoire Mr Ramaphosa.
Lesotho’s political and economic history, coupled with its unique geographically position is inextricably linked and influenced by South Africa. Therefore, either by design or default, South Africa has a major and influential role to play in our future. After all, it is also in South Africa’s long-term interests to have a stable and economically strong state in its belly.
On the institution of the monarchy, owing to our culture, traditions and history, it has to play a pivotal role in our political landscape. However, kings are only human and susceptible to ordinary human influences. It is therefore, critically important that the monarchy plays a unifying role that is reflective of our sovereignty and uniqueness but must, at all times, be above party politics. The monarchy must always be our collective political home. The monarchy should be the custodian of our values, heritage, constitution and founding principles. However, the powers of the monarchy must be circumscribed because too much power vested in one institution does not augur well for any nation.
None of us is infallible. That is why we have checks and balances and the oversight role of some institutions as well as appeal and review procedures.
Last, but not least, is the current political dispensation whereby even small parties that have garnered inconsequential votes in the general election have sadly contributed negatively to the current political impasse that this country finds itself in. Because they did not make their way to Parliament by way of any considerable support, and because in the larger scheme of things and in true reflection of their popularity, they are not accountable to anyone nor are they interested in galvanizing enough support, they have been allowed to punch far beyond their weight. This is a flawed legacy that we have got to address in the future. In the larger scheme of things, they deserve minimal mention on the political landscape our nation that is proportionate to their share of the vote. If they are given a disproportionate amount of power they frustrate the smooth running of democracy.
After all, the underpinning rationale behind democracy is that the voice of the majority should see the light of day. However, this is not to say the minority voice are completely muffled. Herein lies the critical component of an inclusive democracy: striking the balance between divergent views including a least, listening to those of the majority.
However, even well-established, traditional democracies like India, the United States, United Kingdom and France do have minorities, which because of their negligible percentage at national polls play an equally negligible role. In the UK and France, they have the Scottish National Party and the French National Party, which have been given their equally small role in the national agenda proportionate to the amount of votes they command.
It is only human nature that much as we disagree on our daily discourse, our views might not carry much favour on the national popularity stakes. Such parties must therefore be duly consigned to their place on the national stage. It goes without saying that many faces that we are now seeing in Parliament do not deserve to be there in the first place. Now look at the political mess this country finds itself in because they are in fact the most vociferous in tier bellicose utterances. I bet that is not what the forefathers of democracy had in mind when they coined the phrase.
In conclusion, therefore, these are the seminal issues that have to be addressed in order for our democracy to take rook and be strengthened. The only caveat is that of course, with the South Africa, the latter is a sovereign country that has to consider the interests of its citizens first but I bet, Lesotho is inextricably linked to South Africa.
However, like I argued, Mr Ramaphosa deserves a huge applause for coming-up with something tangible.
I rest my case.
