Activities
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Parliamentary Sessions:

The Good Governance Officer attended the commencement of the Fourth Meeting of the First Session of the Seventh Parliament of Lesotho. The Honourable Madam Speaker addressed the House and by officially informing Honourable Members about the passing away of one of the MPs, Hon. Sekoala Toloane, the Leader of BCP. Therefore, in pursuant to the National Assembly Election (N0.1) (Amendment) Act, 2001 section 146A, if a vacancy occurs in connection with the PR seat allocation to a party, the Speaker is empowered by law to appoint the next person on the list in order of preference. Therefore, the Speaker announced that Thulo Mahlakeng was appointed to take the Oath. Therefore, Mr Thulo Mahlakeng was now a new Member of Parliament.

Rothe By-election: Pursuant to Section 93(5) and (6) of the National Assembly Election (No.1) (Amendment) Act, 2001, following the by-election held at Rothe Constituency No. 43 on 26 th July 2008, Mr Mosebi Khotseng of the LCD became victorious and therefore his name was returned ( by IEC) as a member of the National Assembly. Therefore, Mr Khotseng was sworn in as a new member of the House representing Rothe constituents.

Principal Legal Officer: Advocate Sesoai Sesoai was introduced by the Speaker as the official to work within the legal department of the House, the department which was wanting for a longer period of time.

The Speaker made a flashback on issues discussed/debated by the Honourable House beginning of 28 th January 2008 when the House opened and until on 28 th May 2008 when the House recessed for winter:

On top of procedural motions, the House adopted committee reports and further adopted the followingissues:

• Review of the Performance of Parastatals
• Financial policy for the Fiscal Year 2008/2009
• Appointment of an ad hoc Committee to consider the Special Report by the Ombudsman
• Consolidate Capital Account (Development Estimates0 2008/2009
• Affiliation of the National Assembly to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
• Tenure of office of Prime Minister
• Reports on International Sporting Activities
• Humble Address with regard to the speech delivered in the House by His Majesty King Mswati III of Swaziland
• Regulation of Advertising Industry

The Bills which were considered and passed by the House in the last session were:

• Sixth Amendment to the Constitution
• National Assembly Election (Amendment)
• Court of Appeal (Amendment)
• Appropriation (2008/2009)
• Companies (Amendment)
• Second Supplementary Appropriation
• Lesotho Communications Authority
• Land (Amendment)
• Public Officers Defined Contribution Pension Fund

Future Business :
The Speaker made an announcement of future business of the House and she drew attention of Members to the following Bills that are in the pipeline:

• National Youth Council Bill
• Lesotho Bank (Amendment)
• Deferred Pay Bill
• Water Resources Bill, 2008
• Lesotho Electricity Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2008

E-Parliament:
Madam Speaker told the House that on the basis of World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005) respectively, Lesotho Parliament was considering to effect some of the resolutions made at these fora. She pointed out that one of the resolutions of the Pan African Parliament was to invite African Assemblies to strengthen inter-parliamentary cooperation through information and communication technologies aimed at improving coordination of information exchange, capacity building and collaborative development. Therefore, the Speakers and Presidents of African assemblies according to Madam Speaker resolved to form African Parliamentary Knowledge Network (APKN), the network which aims at deepening of democratic practice. The LDP views this as a huge development because information and knowledge are key factors in making democracy work.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA): Post Election Seminar was held from 17 th to 19 th September 2008 at the parliament’s building. The CPA Post-election seminar for Lesotho Branch was held after February 2007 National Elections. The outcomes of this seminar are not yet known but the GGO will follow it up.

Networking:
The Honourable Speaker spoke of active participation of some of Hon Members in various fora locally, regionally, continentally and internationally where Lesotho has a stake and that included the following:

• The Association of Public Accounts Committees (APAC)
• South African Development Community Organisation of Public Accounts Committees (SADCOPAC)
• SADC Parliamentary Reform
• Pan African Parliament
• African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries and the European Union Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU)

Rejected on the grounds that it required two thirds majority of both Houses

Rejected on the grounds that it had a bearing on the pending court case – allocation of PR seats

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