The prime Minister we have

The prime Minister we have

Ezekiel Morake

One would definitely be excited when he hears the name of Lesotho’s prime minister because of his achievements. But contradiction is the correct thing when it comes to him. Moeketsi Majoro seems like someone who does not know what to do when it comes to government.  Unfortunately he had been the finance minister for the longest time.

I want to make it clear from onset that I don’t envy his job. Majoro, holts three degrees in finance, starting from undergraduate degree, Masters and PHD in B-Comm. When it comes to addressing the nation on his ideas he is very weak and lacks confidence that leaders in his positions should have. His Party All Basotho Convention (ABC) has two camps that belong to the party’s deputy Nqosa Mahao and the ousted leader Thomas Thabane. It looks like he is not popular in his party because someone who was not active in the party affairs came and won the much coveted position of Deputy Leader which was won by Mahao.

Majaro seems like he was destined for the position of deputy leader and eventually the leader of the party but it has never happened like that. He is loved by the party leader Thomas Thabane and in him he saw a successor but nature or people had Mahao had its own mind. Unfortunately Mahao does not inspire hope or both of them are poor leaders. Mahao to give you a small background he was a PFD leader and he was not popular in the party until he moved to ABC following his brother’s killing in 2016.

Mahao made sure that he makes the correct noise on radio stations making sure that people don’t forget about him. He was a favourite on Harvest FM and other radio stations that had the same agenda to make the government of Pakalitha Mosisili look bad. That is why the upstart party ABC got enough numbers to establish the government with other parties for the second time after performing badly when they got the gig the first time. Thabane had pitied two individuals for the position of a commander of army by appointing Mahao while Tlali Kamoli was still holding the same position.

Many people thought and assume that Kamoli had killed Mahao on that fateful day. Kamoli was in his office when Mahao was killed brutally by some soldiers who were apparently sent by him.  The case is still in the court to be prosecuted and more than 10 people have been charged.  This is something that should have never happened in any government for appointments to be done maliciously. No one is denying the fact that Prime Ministers have power to hire and fire anyone who is employed by the government. But the situation was unwarranted or uncalled for.

However, it seems like almost all the Prime Ministers have inkling to destabilize the institutions that are charged with a certain responsibility especially the police and the country’s army.  Ever since democracy came in the country from the army in 1993 Lesotho has been rocked by instability broad by politicians and the number of army leaders and police leaders ever since ABC came into the picture.

The current Prime Minister seems like he does not know what he is doing or his advisers are poor advisers. Majoro has not finished a certain amount of time being the leader but signs of failing in his duty are becoming clear maybe due to covid 19 pandemic. He assumed power when his party had factions and the world was facing difficult time of Corona Virus. Like his predecessor Thabane he is emulating South Africa yet Lesotho is the smallest country which does not have provinces. First he wants to introduce serious lockdown like restricting movement of people and stopping sale of alcohol. A large percentage of people buy goods from Maseru and their taxis travel from their districts to Maseru and back every day.

People from Mokhotlong, Qachasnek, Thaba-tseka, Mohaleshoek and Butha-Buthe buy goods from Maseru and other towns. So restricting the movement of people in Lesotho, that is the most stupid idea one can have or think about because it cannot be done. After all Lesotho is a poor country where thousands of people lack what they eat and there is no employment as large percentage of youths are not employed.

It does not look like Majoro has answers to respond to unemployment and lack of food. He is saying people should tilt their fields or be in partnership with government. Yet since Lesotho got indepence from Britain it has always be a poor country. Because if it had been rich, so what happened to ich richness. There is lack of proper roads, houses and the curriculum is poor and we are leasted as the most underdeveloped countries in the world.

Many developed countries in the world don’t look forward to donations but Lesotho looks forward to donations even when we are lead by someone who has PHD in his studies. There is only National University of Lesotho but one would argue that there is more two universities which means there are three universities. There is Botho University from Botswana and Limkokwing University which are basically underrated and are run like shops.

Majoro seems like he doesn’t have answers to make university of Lesotho the biggest university in Africa in terms of reach and graduates outputs. NUL does not have research students or those who are learning through internet like it is happening in South Africa. Here a person must attend classes and go to library to do manual research.

 Lesotho is totally surrounded by South Africa which seems like everything is normal considering that it’s like the first world in Africa. South Africa should be emulated by almost all countries in Africa. The good thing is that Lesotho emulates what is happening in South Africa because it is near us and is totally surrounds Lesotho. Lesotho was left with British laws which outdated or don’t apply to Lesotho situation because Lesotho has two part which is the lowlands and the highlands.

Majoro or any other has failed Basotho a lot. Within two months since he established a government Health workers were involved in a strike wanting an increase in their risk allowance yet are the first one to come in contact with patients. His minister answered some questions which were put forward by the listeners of TV Lesotho is a wrong manner.

What I have realized is that no matter how educated an individual is if he cannot lead the nation he cannot lead it whether is uneducated or not. It is clear that he cannot rule the country because he made questionable decisions to fire PSs and gave a job to Thabo Khasipe to lead Nacosec yet he still leads Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) another important body that makes sure that the government has money by collecting taxes from businesses. There is a saying that says if it walks and quacks like duck then is definitely a duck. This is corruption of the highest order because someone from health could have lead that body but Khasipe was appointed yet he makes serious money as head of LRA.

Few Basotho are talking but it has not sparked an outrage as it would happen in other countries. It is not true that Khasipe only gets salary from LRA only and does not get anything from Nacosec. It simply shows what kind of a person he is. He should have respectfully denied the position if he was only to be there for six months so that someone in health could have assumed the work. That was poor decision he made to associated with health matters whereas he has not studied anything that has to do with health.

It’s like Majoro does not have an adviser in his position. He did not have to fire the Pss but he did and now them taken him to court to challenge his poor decision. After all they are all Basotho and deserve to live despite belonging to certain parties that are not in government.

Lesotho unfortunately is not part of South Africa but laws happening there and lifestyle would have a big influence in Lesotho. Even bad things will affect Basotho livelihoods. In Lesotho there is Lets’eng diamonds mine which wholly owned by DeBeers and Lesotho Highlands Development Authority which are basically owned by South Africans. Basotho are given underpaying positions in these industries but leadership positions are given to non-Basotho.

Majoro does not have ideas of creating employment for Basotho that is why 15 000 miners from South Africa could put the country in danger. Some Basotho are working as miners and domestic workers including other professions in South Africa but there are things that those Basotho could do but there is generally lack of employment. Some would say I’m judging him very hard but someone who holds PHD should have answers to the country’s problems. The three mines that are in the country are not owned by Basotho but by foreigners. There is production of Marijuana in the country but few Basotho are employed in such industries and are underpaid.

Majoro and other leaders would tell you that the country needs foreign investors for it to grow and create employment but Corona happened. I don’t know how would the situation would be different if there was no Corona Virus in the country. In Such sectors some foreigners who are doing menial duties are employed instead of Basotho. But what is surprising is that the license for dagga is so expensive for Basotho who would like to produce such product for the masseuses all over the world because the dagga from Lesotho seems to be of good quality than other countries.

So it is produced by foreign countries such as South Africa because white people have money to spend. This is also putting Basotho in poverty more because they only work for big business instead of being in production themselves. Of late the army and the police seem to be under cared for because the police don’t have things to help them do their duties and the training has gone down but he would tell you that he found things being like that. The budget for these ministries continues to be measly and no one is trying to speak for them. So the army or police that lacks things to work with cannot function at all.

Lesotho Central Bank is also making the life of Basotho difficult by making non-sensical monetary rules. Almost money making companies have been barred from doing  so by the company claiming that it was saving  Basotho from unscrupulous people who wanted to make money for themselves. For instance let’s talk about MKM which made some Basotho rich with their investments.  Some Basotho had invested their money in the company getting big returns for their investments. Unfortunately central bank shut down some business of MKM because according to them it was Ponzi scheme but it was not. The minister at the time was Tim Thahane who is now advisor of Majoro. Majoro was the governor of LCB and it is rumored he passed the law that hit hard on Lebuoajoang Thebe-ea-Khale closing his business.

Apparantley Thahane was rumored to want to buy the building of Agric bank which is now used by FNB which did some renovations. It is not clear how Thebe Ea- Khale lost the building but it looks like the judgiary had made a ruling which made Thebe-ea-Khale lose the building because he had to raise money in order to pay his customers. This is an example that Basotho businesses are not helped to grow but Majoro has always been there. He is the Prime Minister in a poor country and he does not have answers to change the situation. Agric depends on rain and a proper market it looks like there is no market for Basotho products if they can produce them.

It looks like Basotho have to solve their problems without expecting someone like a leader to solve them because they don’t have them. More than 50 years since Lesotho has been ruling itself the situation has not changed at all. Majoro looks like he does not have answers to make Lesotho great again. His party members did not trust him to be the deputy leader but they trusted him to take over Thabane to run the country. So it really surprising that people are playing over Basotho yet it should be like that.