Bereng Mpaki
A SUPPLEMENTARY session of the Multi-Stakeholder National Dialogue (MSND) is scheduled to be convened today in Maseru in preparation for district level consultations.
This is a follow-up to the first plenary session of the MSND last November which marked the first step in the implementation of the National Framework and Roadmap of Dialogue and Reforms for National Transformation.
The November occasion brought together about 600 delegates from nearly 20 sectors of the society, to deliberate on the solutions to a spectrum of problems that have dogged the country for many years.
The National Dialogue Planning Committee (NDPC) this week said there were frank, unrestrained exchanges of opinion on seven thematic areas of the constitution, parliament, judiciary, security agencies, public service, media and economy.
According to the NDPC, today’s sitting will among other things, adopt guidelines for district consultations as part of preparations for district dialogues, whose commencement date is yet to be revealed. However, it has been indicated that district dialogues are the next step in the national dialogue and reforms agenda.
“A supplementary sitting of the first plenary of the MSND is being convened in Maseru on 21 February 2019 (today), to complete preparatory tasks precedent to the district dialogues, as per the prescriptions of the National Reforms Dialogue Act, 2018, at sections 11(1X0 and 11(1)(g),” an NDPC statement said.
“These tasks include adopting the guidelines for district consultations, and agreeing on the nature of structure that will carry over the business from the NDPC after the second plenary of the MSND, and oversee and coordinate the translation of the final National resolutions into the laws to be enacted by the parliament. The Extended Plenary 1 will also receive the supplementary report (or addendum to report of Plenary 1) compiled from the 15 January 2019 submissions.”
The district hearings are scheduled to be facilitated by the Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN) in accordance with the directives of the Lesotho National Dialogue and Stabilisation Project (LNDSP) that is assisting this leg of the reforms, under the stewardship of the NDPC as per the prescripts of the act.
“The next step in the dialogue and reforms process is the convening of the in-district dialogue meetings, which takes the MSND process to the local level – to identify “issues affecting peace and causing instability and discuss options for national reconciliation and the way forward for the reforms”, around the seven preselected thematic areas. While the former process will mirror the latter as far as practicable for comparability and congruity of the results obtained, the content of the first plenary will not be remitted to the districts, to avoid bias.”
The NDPC encouraged the public prepare for the district consultations to ensure their input is included in shaping the country’s future.
“As we enter the home stretch in the gathering and binding of Basotho’s own preferences about the Lesotho they want, and to bequeath to the coming generations; we on every Mosotho to stand up and be heard.”
The NDPC said notices will be issued timeously when the community consultations commence in the districts in the next few weeks.
