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Activities September 2009
1. The September 2009 report by the Good Governance Officer covers the following key issues:
2. Strategic objective: To be “…a forum and network for the gathering, exchange, and dissemination of information relevant to the strengthening of civil society/parliamentary relations in Lesotho ”.
3. Activities report
3.1 Learning Tour in South Africa : LDP crew had been in South Africa – Cape Town , Gauteng and Pretoria respectively on the learning tour. The purpose of the excursion was to exchange some ideas with different democracy stakeholders' doing more or less the parliamentary work the LDP is doing. Our partner, SAIIA, through its Research Fellow, Mr Tim Hughes, organised and hosted the trip in consultation with LDP.
In Cape Town , the LDP officers were able to meet with the following figures:
On top of meeting with these figures LDP crew attended the sitting of Parliamentary Committee on Communication where the Committee was holding interviews for the SABC Board members. We again attended the Questions and Answers session where the Deputy President, Khalema Motlhanthe, was responding to questions from the floor (MPs). In Gauteng and Pretoria we were able to meet the following people:
NB: A full report about the trip is in the pipeline.
3.2 Parliamentary Sittings
3.2.1 Education Bill 2009 : The GGO facilitated a platform where the Education Bill 2009 was discussed by the main different Education Stakeholders in Lesotho . As a result of this intervention, a joined submission was made to the parliamentary committee – Social Cluster responsible for education matters. A lot of lobbying on the Bill was made with the MPs including the Chairperson of the Social Cluster. The copies of the submission were widely distributed to the MPs in parliament seeking their support to the proposed amendments to the Bill. Not all the proposed amendments were accepted by the National Assembly. LDP is yet to obtain the amendments made by parliament to the Bill. The Bill is yet to be discussed in the Senate but it is likely that the Bill will be passed regardless of the proposed amendments by the Education Stakeholders.
3.2.2 Land Bill 2009: The Land Bill 2009 is yet another controversial Bill currently in parliament for debate. The Bill if finally enacted will repel the current Land Act 1979. Civil Society Organisations/NGOs have already met and formed an opinion on the Bill. Manifestly, the Bill is not popular within the communities where public hearings were conducted by the LDP. And furthermore, media campaigns held jointly by LCN and TRC ignited a lot of debates regarding the content of the Bill, originality of the Bill, and the apparent lack of public consultations on the Bill. LDP crew had been approached by Opposition MPs in order to exchange strategies in as far as the Bill is concerned.
3.3 Big Workshop The LDP had organised and hosted a big workshop on 24 th September 2009 at TRC Conference Hall. The theme of the workshop was “Strengthening of Parliamentarians' roles of Representation and Constituency Relations in democratic dispensation”. The workshop targeted the MPs, who indeed attended in big numbers from both the ruling and the opposition parties; the Constituency Secretaries and political parties in Parliament. Other than our partner Tim Hughes, a Research Fellow at SAIIA, who presented a paper on the role of MPs in democratic dispensation, there were two more resource persons who were invited to present on the following topics:
NB: The workshop report is in the pipeline. 4. Successes and Challenges
5. Outreach Programme in RSA – Cape Town , Pretoria and Johannesburg . Date : 6 th September 2009 Objectives : To strengthen work of LDP by sharing and learning from other organisations and formally introduce LDP to both SAIIA and Danish Embassy in RSA Nature of Activity: Study tour to RSA Date and Place: 6 th -11 th September 2009 Cape Town , Pretoria and Johannesburg Attendees: LDP made presentations to South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg, Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) Cape Town and Pretoria, Congress of the People (COPE) Cocktail and press conference, Touring of RSA Parliament, met Independent Democracy (ID) MP, Democratic Alliance Research Function, Directors in Speaker's Office, attendance of Portfolio on Communications: Interviews SABC Board, National Assembly Chamber Questions to Deputy President, African Legislative Project (ALP), Institute of Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), Presentation to Danish Embassy Issues and observations IDASA Presentation Cape Town and Pretoria IDASA in Cape Town concentrates on parliament in programmatic areas such as parliament committees' interventions and counter/shadow parliament in issues of public participation, good governance and democracy for instance meetings which were initially were to be held in-camera were later opened to public for transparency advocated by IDASA, Accountability of Executive to parliament and National Budgets are key to IDASA thus its proximity to parliament to allow regular interaction with parliament and for updates on issues and debates in parliament. IDASA has had a number of successes in legislative processes such as submission to Seventeenth Constitutional Amendment and Electricity Governance. Further, IDASA supports and gives assistance to public protector. Because IDASA partner with other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), public interest is central to activities. Party funding is highly considered in the organisation and constitutional requirements are observed for better involvement of political parties in RSA. Media is another component utilised by IDASA for purposes of making issues public, in addition to this capacity building-training on how to cover and frame bills and parliamentary issues is prioritised, to write intelligent debates and investigative journalism which LDP benefited from IDASA through training Media houses in parliamentary reporting in Lesotho .
As a way to assist LDP, IDASA gave few pointers on Budget tracking and monitoring. IDASA not only advocates for credible, accessible and timely budget but also builds relations thus giving support, assistance and trust of MPs to the organisation. Notably, budget cycle has several stages to be looked into such as formulation which is a closed process, enactment which is mostly legislation, implementation, and consideration of budget tracking is key while evaluation is mainly work of Auditor General. Because LDP wants to commence and robustly engage on budget literacy and capacity building of MPs, IDASA advised that concentration should be on process of budget, players such as MPs, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and media mainly to understand budget better. However, budgets are threatening to MPs and other related stakeholders hence need to start by budget literacy and support transparency in the process. Advocacy for improved and participatory budget systems and policy simplified and non threatening manner is a must in the whole scenario identifying strategic partners such as NGOs, academics and media in the process.
IDASA Pretoria Partnership with IDASA, has helped LDP to execute objectives of not only LDP as a component of TRC but also TRC as a whole. IDASA has several programmatic areas such as Governance and AIDS Programme which promotes knowledgeable governance and develops visionary leadership and citizen agency to build AIDS resilient democratic societies in Africa . Key areas include: HIV and AIDS Budget allocation analysis and expenditure. A multi country research on budget analysis, resource tracking and training strengthens legislative oversight roles through evidence-based advocacy, commitments by governments, adequacy of resources, beneficiaries of funds, allocations-speaking specifically to policies. On the other hand, Local Governance training strengthens capacity for co-operative governance to improve conditions of affected communities in Sub Saharan at local level. Human Rights and Democratisation sector works to counter stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS to enhance the potential of all citizens to participate meaningfully in political, social and economic life. Further, politics and communication engages journalists and communicators from state and CSOs to promote public awareness and policy discussion on the impact of HIV and Aids and Governance.
On Local Governance, LDP had an extensive discussion with Local Government Team Leader, explaining that the unit has five thematic areas such as political governance, local government, observers, international exchange and parliamentary strengthening and research in selected countries in Africa . This project creates the appropriate enabling environment at national level for good governance at local level that is political environment for good governance developing a supporting policy framework and designing and implementing appropriate support programmes. IDASA works with CSOs and governments in respective countries and use assessment tool called Afro Barometer and has worked and piloted the tool among others in Lesotho . This tool is utilised to identify gaps in areas such as CSOs, Local Councils, Public Affairs, capacity Building strategy. In Lesotho Qiloane and Manonyane Community Councils were used as pilot project areas, however, several challenges were met due to unavailability of local councillors, capacity of local councillors, government reluctance of decentralisation in Lesotho. A long and fruitful partnership between TRC and IDASA has had an approach which is very important in advocacy and initiation stage mainly on capacity and relationship building, CSOs engagement, understanding legislation and local government.
IDASA's Economic Governance Programme is another area of interest; it is the product of a merger between IDASA previous Budget Information service and the Right to Know Programme which aims to put politics back into economics by strengthening practices, institutions and behaviours and advance the participation of groups that are normally excluded form political and economic decision-making process, in particular poor people and women. The programme aims to strengthen marginalised groups' participation in decision making structures and thereby their access to resources. This is executed through a number of programmes namely: Right to Know, Right to Education; Public Expenditure and Small Holding Agriculture; Social Accountability and Imali Ye Mwana Network.
SAIIA Cape Town SAIIA Cape Town concentrates on governance and natural resources working in Tanzania , DRC, Angola and Sudan . This is done in a number of strategies including comparative study, development research, case studies and micro economic overview. On the other, Finance and Economic sector looks at fairness in distributing funds and spending funds in a profitable manner. Policies are dealt with, to identify gaps and challenges.
SAIIA Pretoria This sector deals generally with trade and relations. SAIIA has worked with Lesotho on economic agreements such as Vision 2020 and look at future configuration for Lesotho , fragile relations between textile and finance and fragility of civil society. It was then concurred that for capacity building and finance and trade literacy of stakeholders a one day workshop will be staged in Lesotho to discuss issues such as future of SACU- potential consequences, economic partnerships, dependency on United States of America on export and future of AGOA. Moreover, SA trade policy is also scrutinised in this section looking into regional issues, sustainable developments and trade networks. SA relations with Europe , service banking, telecommunication, energy and transport are also looked into. Economic development cluster concentrates on private sector development, SA trade feature, regional feature and global features such as WTO and G20.
SAIIA Johannesburg After LDP presented to SAIIA, it was a learning, sharing and exchange of information for the two organisations. However, LDP was advised to formalise channels between management of parliament and proper linkages between MPs and lobby groups in Lesotho for better working and implementation of public involvement in parliamentary issues. With regard to media outlets, LDP was expected to start utilising SA's media for broader coverage especially when state media in Lesotho is not accessible to CSO's fraternity. SAIIA gave assurance on future intervention and assistance for publishing and documentation on national and regional issues. A matter of Proportional Representation (PR) and constituency based MPs was a concern and their relationship with constituents. Parliament capacity and reforms and public involvement was debated with emphasis on engagement of women in parliament and representation which LDP has little or no influence at all in the issue. Rwanda is working extensively on pushing for women leadership in both PR and constituency based MPs however, challenges of stereo typed and patriarchal society is a major concern. With regard to CSOs in legislative processes in Lesotho , most CSOs are weak and need to be capacitated thus need to make an impact on national issues. For sustainability of LDP, lobbying should have an impact and issues of implementation and funding of the programme hence need for sustaining interest and capacity interest and coverage weight of the TRC to move forward and be recognised.
Pretoria Presentation at Danish Embassy Presentation to the Danish Embassy was the first formal one since LDP inception with Ambassador interest on the impact LDP made in Lesotho parliament regardless of the challenges encountered. Much emphasis was on difference made in engagement with parliamentarians, formal channels with parliament, engagement with media and CSOs and constituents who have confidence in LDP. However, more interest was political situation in Lesotho , where PR seats allocation has culminated to political crisis in Lesotho . TRC and other CSOs interventions on the matter were debated at length to resolve the matter and successes made thus far. Opposition Parties in the National Assembly Congress of the People (COPE) LDP attended COPE press conference in Cape Town , the main objective of the occasion was to announce COPE collaboration and cooperation agreement with other political parties such as Independent Democracy (ID), Democracy Alliance (DA) and United Democratic Movement (UDM). COPE has had its teething challenges but has also had a massive success in General election of 2009. However, supporters of COPE came for different reasons such as different political environment; others were opportunists who wanted to make it to party list but left when they did not make it. Loyalty to COPE and unity is essential for progress hence the aforementioned cooperation with likeminded political parties. It is COPE's main goal to win political power as liberation movement has run its course. It is the political party with recognition of people living in RSA, reflect on social base however, COPE will not partner with parties whose main policy is based on race and tribalism but on acceptance of reality and progression. On the issues of COPE's cooperation with DA, it was mentioned that the DA is no longer a white party and agree on principle, values, policies and reconcile the past but not live on historical past.
Independent Democracy LDP met ID MP in Cape Town for purposes of enlightenment of how opposition parties work in parliament and the way PR MPs link with constituents in RSA for service delivery and provision and parliamentary committees. PR system is less accountable to electorate than constituency based MPs, MPs are independent however, accountable and owe allegiance to the party. A major concern is increment of party line doctrine which sometimes compromises the debates in parliament. Some members of the opposition parties believe that Mixed Member Proportion electoral system should be introduced to rectify challenges faced by respective MPs. This would give electorate to chance to reconnect with branch structures that is constituents. ID believes in concentrating on issues which have maximum effect generally but most importantly improvement of lives in RSA. Nonetheless, lack of accountability hugely impacts on the opposition parties as they become weak with little or no pressure from the ruling party. RSA not only needs political party which speaks to majority of South Africans but also unity in parties for the benefit of all. Consolidation of parties is a need for expansion for better engagement and robust debate. However, opposition parties' capabilities are overstretched as they are less in numbers but are still expected to serve in different parliamentary committees.
Democratic Alliance Research Function The research office consists of five researches and a head of research. Every researcher is assigned a group of portfolios, and is expected to work with spokesperson who holds portfolios to get the DA's message across. In so doing, the unit work closely with various other departments. Most important is the media department, which releases statements to the press, talks to journalists and sets up interviews with MPs. Researchers use different tools to get the DA's message out to the voters. Often in driving one issue the research will use many of tools together, or one after another. For instance DA may ask a question about a water treatment plant, and on the basis of the response conduct an on-site inspection and ask the Auditor General to investigate.
Speaker's Office. This office symbolises governance of parliament. The discussions in the Speaker's office were guided by the questions asked by LDP. It is apparent that party which has majority in parliament has all the powers in parliament. Parliament has oversight authority, representatives of different political parties, gives formula in committee structures; it is constitutional, rule the House and maintains objectivity. Unlike Lesotho , RSA parliament is more friendly and accommodative of media houses such as SABC, radios, and associations. Sittings of committees are open to public but not on national security and intelligence. The systems in place in parliament are strong and stipulated in the standing orders thus list of MPs who will speak on that day is given prior to the debate. Regarding training of parliamentarians which LDP struggling with from the programme inception, the Speaker's office maintains that short term capacity building is no longer allowed, only long term training such as tailor made diplomas, degrees and post grad degrees are embraced.
Portfolio Committee on Communication: interviews of SABC Board The committee interviewed SABC Board in September 8 th 2009. The meeting was open to the public for transparency and accountability. Most members of the committee requested that CV of interviewees be uploaded in parliamentary site which was debated at length until consensus was met whereupon the CVs were to be uploaded in the site even though some interviewees have already fell victims of media who are giving scandalous details of interviewees. LDP only managed to observe two of the proposed members.
Questions to Deputy President To attend the sitting LDP and other guests who enter the parliamentary precinct should seek permission and get ticket to parliament and be seated by the time indicated on the ticket. The session was a normal written questions to Deputy President with follow up oral questions for clarity. Question about Zimbabwe crisis and HIV and AIDS prevalence in RSA and preventative measures taken in that respect were asked and replied to. Institute of Justice and Reconciliation This organisation has its roots in SA Truth and Reconciliation and takes TRC recommendations further. IJR needs are entrenched in SA society in programmes such as grassroots programme, research component, and concentrates on African countries in post conflict situation. The organisation believes that home-grown solutions are the best thus interventions are from partners, government. The situation should however, be conducive and there is need to balance ruling and opposition parties and maintain such relationship. African Legislative Project The purpose of ALP is to learn about how African legislatures function. As such ALP is an exercise that straddles the realms of academic research and practice-in this case, research into the operations of the legislature and what its findings suggest for African parliaments, organisations working in legislative and democratic reform and supportive donor agencies. ALP seeks to answer three basic questions
To respond to these questions, ALP has developed a range of quantitative and qualitative measures of legislative performance so that scholars and practitioners have a method for assessing and comparing the developments of individual legislatures in relation to one another and overtime.
6. Workshop on strengthening parliamentarians role of representation and constituency relations in democratic dispensation. Date: 24 th September 2009 Place: TRC conference Hal Objective : To capacitate community leaders, political parties and parliamentarians to execute their role and responsibilities effectively Attendees: MPs, Representatives of political parties in parliament, constituency secretaries from selected project sites. Issues and observations Presentations : Mr Tim Hughes: role of parliamentarians in democratic dispensation-representation and constituency relations SADC case study; Mr Thabo Mosoeunyane: public participation-citizens inclusiveness in policy making or legislative processes; Mr Setsabi Setsabi: using constituency relations to improve service delivery and information provision.
The purpose of the seminar is to strengthen parliamentarians' role of representation and constituents' relation in democratic dispensation. MPs should be envisaged to be executing their roles of lawmaking, oversight and representation and not neglecting their roles in constituencies as they are elected not only to represent their constituents but also improve relations with their respective constituencies for enhancement of public participation, responsiveness, accountability and transparency. In a long term MPs should embrace the often neglected role of constituents without persuasion to do so. Need to improve parliamentary capabilities to analyze policy legislative issues and alternatives is core to the problem. Through all these, there is a common thread----the desire to keep Parliament relevant to the people and make it an effective institution of governance of our modern times. Parliaments should make themselves more accessible to citizens and social groups, and in which to exercise influence in turn. Direct contact between citizens and their representatives is then an opportunity for citizen involvement in legislation and other committee work of a parliament; eventually at institutions and procedures level citizens can appeal for redress their grievances and concern.
Lesotho however, has a weak parliamentary democracy hence evidently poor record of parliamentary engagement with Basotho such as little constituency feed-back, few constituency clinics and absence of public information on parliament. As such Lesotho Democracy Programme (LDP) is bridging the gap by enhancing public engagement, thus establishing formal and informal channels for populace to interact with parliament. Consequently, LDP is not only constituting a forum and network for gathering, exchange and dissemination of information relevant to strengthening civil society and parliamentary relations in Lesotho; but also a framework for society groupings to report back, coordinate and develop policy and strategy with respect to parliamentary engagement. Citizens have high expectations from their Members of Parliament (MPs) and parliaments in general. Generally in Lesotho there is a need to balance and strengthen a dynamic relationship between elected representatives and their constituents by constant interaction and clear communication of governance issues as a means of participatory democracy. However, such engagement depends on the capacity and availability of resources to the concerned, which is a major constraint in Lesotho . Further, the elected representatives should act in the interest, confidence and good of the constituents . Notably concentration should not only be on elected representatives but also on Executive branch which should support the enhancement of transparency, participation, responsiveness and accountability.
Public participation Citizens must be include in the decision making process of the legislature and MPs should be equally responsive as citizens have surrendered their rights and responsibility to their elected leaders who have assumed the responsibility with little or no feedback to those mandated to them to make decisions on their behalf. MPs have responsibilities to three main groups: their constituents, parliament and their political parties. MPs' roles in parliament which include participating in debates and voting on legislation issues, they are also members of committees examining new laws or the work of government departments. MPs can assist their constituents by advising on problems representing the concerns of their constituents in parliament and on their behalf. MPs usually support their party by voting with its leadership in the house and acting as a representative for the party in the constituency.
In Lesotho bills are still largely or exclusively imitated by MPs with little or no contribution form ordinary members of the public which are non interactive. Consequently political parties are currently experiencing a loss of public trust and confidence. This is mainly caused by lack of engagement of citizens in political processes by helping them have their say and encouraging and enabling democratic institutions to listen. MPs have little or no idea that they represent people and are servants of the people and not vice versa. Almost all Mps owe allegiance to party leaders than to constituents and they have a final say as to who should be party candidates at primaries, making the party far more powerful than constituents. Once elected there is lack of proper mechanisms that could see MPs recalled if their performance is below par or due to dereliction of duty, constituents have to wait for another five years to exercise their constitutional right. MPs who access parliament through PR are often in the mercy of their political party leaders to put them at the top of their party list. MPs self interest in the issues such as benefits, privileges and careerism often make them ignore constituents. Executive over aching dominance over the legislature is not a healthy situation in Lesotho . As such MPs lack the desire and initiative to criticise the executive because that is the ultimate prize that they want to grab.
It is still unclear to MPs that rights are not favours and every citizen is entitled to them. These are every citizen's entitlement and should not be taken away by anybody. The importance of civic responsibility is paramount to the success of democracy by engaging in civic responsibility, citizens ensure and uphold certain democratic values. Civic education aims at imparting the knowledge and skills that are needed for effective participation in the community, government and politics. MPs and constituents are integral part of policy formulation and there is a need to have clear channels of communication if democracy is to survive. The situation in Lesotho is such that MPs are hardly in touch with their constituents and resources are often limiting. Representation and constituency relations The essence of representative democracy means there is no direct democracy with minimal participatory democracy. There is a need for a social contract. Constituents expect the MP/representative in parliament to have strong relations with the constituents and suggestions are made of being the best MP. Frequenting constituency is top priority to discuss issues concerning the whole constituency, few MPs had a serious problem with LDP ‘interference' in their respective constituencies. MPs should visit the constituents a week before reopening of parliament to debate concerns, need as mandated. Budget speech is also a need public participation and how it would affect the constituents and further explains the contents of the budget. Bills and acts passed by parliament should be debated with constituents and their effects to respective constituencies. Voting of MPs on matters concerning constituencies is an issue to be discussed with constituents. Questions to ministers and parliamentary committees workings and roles committees and particularly participation of the MP in the committees are a need of the public. Monthly constituency clinics and broad debate and involvement should be prioritised. Parliament should know about the concerns of constituents and successes should be announced to the public. Working in unity and partnership would improve lives for all and standards for MPs in parliament and securing re-election of respective MPs. Most MPs concurred to the contents of what is expected of the good MP and are willing to partner with LDP on constituency nurturing. Using constituency office for provision of service delivery and information .
The Parliament should ideally represent the diversity of ideas and groups in society. In the election of candidates from constituencies ties them to those constituencies by way of representing their interests in parliament particularly addressing their service delivery requirements and lobbying for finance for them in Parliament
The national budget should be seen to be addressing the service delivery needs of the population. Public accounts need to be audited regularly to ensure that monies allocated are being used for their designated purposes. Government must not only make the promise of delivering services it must be responsive to the needs and complaints of those to whom services are delivered. Therefore people have a right to complain as well as a right of redress of those complaints. Within this context the delivery of services is an essential component of enabling ordinary people to have access to fundamental opportunities.
Constituency Offices: Establishment The creation of constituency offices is facilitated by the “Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act” The Act enables Constituency MPs to employ Secretaries who work for them in their constituencies. The salaries of these secretaries are paid by Parliament. Note: only the 80 constituency MPs are entitled to constituency secretaries. These secretaries are appointed directly by the Parliamentarian without any interference from anyone.
Constituency Offices: Functions
The Challenges • There is no institutionalised link between Parliamentarians (the people who make the promises of service delivery) and local government (the people/institutions who deliver services). • Budget allocation is still done along sectoral lines which creates a gap between the role of parliamentarians as representatives of local interests and their capacity to deliver on that mandate. • Many Parliamentarians have argued that there is general lack of infrastructure to enable the secretaries to adequately undertake their work. • Sometimes the secretaries work along political lines whereby information is disseminated only to members of the party • Sometimes the Parliamentarians themselves use the constituency secretaries for their own political ends such as mobilisation of the party at the local level rather than serving the entire electorate of the constituency
Way forward 1: Addressing Structural Problems • There should be money set aside for spatially oriented budgeting – where the budget is allocated on a district basis rather than on a sectoral basis. This would give Parliamentarians more leverage on service delivery promises. • There needs to be greater synergy between the constituency offices and local government. • Ensuring that more resources are availed to Constituency offices so that their mandate can be broadened
Way forward 2: Other Activities that the Constituency can Offices do? • Educating the public on the roles and functions of parliament to bring public expectations in line with these roles and functions i.e. to bridge the gap between expectations and delivery • Providing information through public gatherings, use of the media and other means on bills discussed in parliament and legislation that has been passed. • Encouraging public debate at the local level on policies and bills in parliament. • Promotion of local economic opportunities and provision of information on external economic opportunities to local communities • Civic education on issues that include: There is still a lot to be done with parliamentarians as most felt they are imprisoned by the party line doctrine, the speaker of parliament, owing allegiance to party leaders and negligence of voters who voted them to power. MPs still have to learn to prioritise constituents to regain their confidence and trust and cease to alleviate and alienate themselves from the voters. MPs should not be masters in the whole scenario but servants of the people for the betterment of Lesotho .
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(c) 2008 Lesotho Democracy Programme |