…as Mofomobe cries foul
Mohloai Mpesi/Moorosi Tsiane
CHIEF of Police, Advocate Borotho Matsoso, has decried the critical understaffing of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS), saying officers are overburdened, as the force defended its controversial decision to retain 80 officers due for retirement.
The revelation came on Thursday at a police press conference in Maseru, called to explain the reengagement – a move that has sent shockwaves across the nation and drawn sharp criticism from the opposition.
Adv Matsoso, who took over as head of the LMPS in May 2024 after a career spanning the LMPS, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) and Revenue Services Lesotho, has repeatedly flagged the structural, financial and operational challenges bedevilling the force. The LMPS has struggled to keep pace with rising crime, even as Lesotho remains ranked among the world’s most homicidal nations.
Adv Matsoso said the LMPS would retain officers yet to retire, as well as those already on leave pending retirement. It needs to recruit at least 500 officers annually to ease the pressure on serving members – currently, one officer polices 551 members of the public.
“These kids are burdened. You are complaining because they are burdened,” he said.
Retaining the officers did not mean recruitment would stop, he stressed.
“Even if we recruit for the remaining three years, we will still not reach the 9,000 to 10,000 police officers the LMPS is rightfully supposed to have. If we can manage to recruit at least 500 every year, we would be closer. But right now, we are below 10,000.
“Some of them are experts whom we cannot replace. We have lost valuable skills. This kills succession planning because there are a lot of gaps, and that creates instability,” he said.
A force bleeding officers faster than it can recruit
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police ‘Matšepang Ramarikhoane said the force had lost 474 officers since 2022, while recruiting only 297 over the same period.
She blamed a December 2022 government directive halting recruitment across all ministries, after the public wage bill – then around 15 percent of GDP against a recommended ceiling of below 10 percent – became unsustainable.
“We last recruited new police officers in the 2022/23 financial year. Since then, we have only been able to bring in those 297 officers,” she said.
The force has lost more officers to attrition than it has recruited every year since: 56 retired, 23 died, five resigned and 10 were fired in 2022/23; 80 retired, 11 died, six resigned and 19 were fired in 2023/24; 87 retired, 21 died, seven resigned and 24 were fired in 2024/25; and 57 retired, 13 died, one resigned and seven were dismissed in 2025/26. A further 25 have retired, 12 died, three resigned and seven were dismissed since 1 April 2026.
“In total, we have lost 474 police officers. We mostly lose officers through retirement,” she said.
“Our police-population ratio stands at 1:551. When I am attending to one person, those 550 other people are still waiting for my response too. Owing to this burden, police management decided to halt the retirement of officers currently on leave pending retirement, so that they keep working while we stabilise the situation through recruitment,” she said.
She said the LMPS has the power to do so under Section 84 of the Police Service Act of 1998 and Regulation 15(5) of the LMPS (Administration) Regulations, 2003, which allows the Police Authority to retain officers beyond retirement age for up to five years.
Mofomobe cries foul
The reengagement has not gone unchallenged. Basotho National Party (BNP) leader Machesetsa Mofomobe penned a four-page letter to Prime Minister Sam Matekane, dated 26 August 2026, questioning its transparency and fairness.
“This decision raises serious questions about transparency, fairness, institutional development and, importantly, the opportunities being denied to serving police officers and the unemployed youth of Lesotho,” he wrote.
He demanded to know what criteria were used to select the 80 officers, whether the positions were advertised or competitively filled, and why serving officers were not promoted instead.
“Are there no suitably qualified serving members of the LMPS who can be promoted to fill these positions? Before bringing back retired officers, government should surely first establish whether these ranks can be filled through promotion within the existing service,” he said, warning that bypassing serving members could hurt morale and career prospects.
He also questioned what the retirees could now offer that they had not already given during their careers, and what message the move sent to the country’s unemployed youth.
“It is difficult to reconcile [government’s] commitments [on youth unemployment] with a decision to bring retired officers back into positions within the Police Service when thousands of young Basotho remain unemployed and are desperately looking for opportunities to enter the labour market,” he said.
Mofomobe conceded there could be exceptional cases where a retiree’s specialised expertise was genuinely needed – but said government should then explain publicly why.
No money for promotions
LMPS spokesperson, Superintendent Thabo Mohai, said the recall was driven by a lack of funding, not a shortage of internal expertise.
“We are not recalling people who have retired, but those on leave pending retirement. Everyone would have expected promotions, but that is not possible because we do not have the budget for that. Promotions come with costs, the same way as hiring new officers,” he said.
“There is actually a lot of expertise within the police. This move is just an alternative in trying to respond to the shortage of officers, while means are being made to hire new ones,” he said, adding that no separate funds had been set aside – the recalled officers would simply continue drawing their existing salaries.