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Is the king’s call attainable?

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THE routine annual national address by His Majesty on New Year’s Eve departs from his ordinary official statements architectured by the government and therefore provides a guide to understanding his personal perception of the challenges facing Lesotho and how they could be tackled. 

While more often His Majesty raises critical issues for consideration by the leaders, what is disturbing is the extent to which he influences the thinking of his government, political organisations, the church, labour, civil society, business and every Mosotho.

Central to the king’s message this time round was the need for political consensus among Basotho so that they could work with resolve to eradicate poverty and fight the negative impact of HIV and Aids which continues to reverse the gains the kingdom has made in all spheres of life since independence.

Motlotlehi finds political consensus as the beginning of the turnaround strategy for his people because with the current fragmentation and divisions it is impossible to make any impact.

Looking back at his message to Basotho on the occasion to mark Africa Peace Day in Maseru last year, it would be apparent that the king is disturbed by the divisions among Basotho.

The million dollar question for Basotho remains: is what the king is calling for attainable?

On the basis of what Basotho have been through, what they have been able to do and have potential to do, my response to this question is in the affirmative.

But what is it that Basotho have done to deserve such optimistic judgment?

Until the change of Lesotho’s electoral model from the first-past-the-post to mixed member proportional representation model in 2002, Basotho had not experienced post-election peace.

There is a general consensus among researchers and political analysts that electoral reform facilitated consensus on the issue that was seen as the number one dividing factor: elections.

Khabele Matlosa, a former research director at the Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa in South Africa, and Caleb Sello, the founding executive director of the Lesotho Council of NGOs, argue that keen observers of Lesotho’s political scene judged the representative nature of the 2002 parliament as the delivery of a desirable product by the new electoral system.

Scholastica Kamario, the former resident country representative of the UNDP to Lesotho, and her colleagues concluded in 2004 that with the most representative parliament (10 parties after the 2002 elections) since independence, Lesotho had begun the new chapter with enormous opportunities to engender democracy and development.

Although the electoral model used by Lesotho, first-past-the-post, was able to produce a strong government, it did that at the expense of the whole political system as Nqosa Mahao, now with the University of South Africa, had argued.

It has not been an easy task to change the model though. 

Despite several calls to change the electoral model, notably by the youth parliament (1993) and the national dialogue (1995), the change only came in 2002 precipitated by the post-1998 general election political turmoil which in the words of Matlosa almost degenerated into a civil war.

If Basotho have been able to achieve this, it is logical to conclude therefore that they can reclaim their trademark as a peace-loving nation.

In order to reach political consensus, effectively manage conflicts and become a nation at peace within itself, Basotho need a vigilant government.

This is what needs to be done.

Identify all the national key policies speaking to constructive conflict management and peace and use them to develop a national peace building programme. 

This programme should be driven by a national peace institution enjoying independence similar to that of the Independent Electoral Commission. 

This institution should utilise and support institutions of higher learning, civil society organisations, political parties, schools, labour, business, government departments, local government, academia, the sport fraternity, development partners and everyone to transform the Basotho society from the culture of violence to the culture of peace.

The national peace institution should transform Basotho from their belief in power based on force, in creating and maintaining enemies, secrecy and propaganda, armament, exploitation of people and nature, authoritarian governance and male domination into a society charecterised by belief in dialogue to resolve conflicts, tolerance, solidarity, understanding, democratic participation, free flow of information, disarmament, human rights, sustainable development, equality of women and men.

This can be done through education, development of early warning and support systems, establishment of institutions and creation of procedures.

This is the least the government can do to demonstrate its appreciation of the king’s call.

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