Lesotho Democracy Project

Public Hearing in Mashai, Thaba Tseka

The Lesotho Democracy Programme (LDP) held a public hearing on civic education at Mashai in the central district of Thaba-Tseka May 10, 2007. The main objective of the public hearing was to assess the level of knowledge people have about public institutions such as the parliament, the cabinet and the courts of law. Then the LDP would provide relevant information on these institutions, their functions and how the public could participate.

The turnout at the public hearing was about 450 people. Many of them were men and women in their forties. There were a few young and elderly people.

Many of the participants said they knew little about the functions of the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Courts of Law. Most of them said they only knew the legislative function of the Parliament. They were taught of other functions which include allocation of public funds and keeping eye on the executive.

They were also informed about the responsibility of government to make and implement policies, establish diplomatic ties with other countries, provide security and social services.
Participants were also taught of the functions of the judiciary as the custodian of law and provider of justice.

Some participants complained about their Members of Parliament (MPs), who never come to report on their activities in parliament. Others argued that the people do not turn up at the public meetings called by the MPs to report back. They said in the past, their MPs promised to build development projects such as footbridges bridges and dams. Some said they never made any attempts to recall their MP's to report on promises they made.

The hearing helped the public to understand the functions of the three arms of the state, especially the legislature, the role of the MPs, the role of the voting public and how they can participate in the business of parliament.

Civil Society Workshop On Public Participation In Parliament

The Transformation Resource Centre (TRC), through its Lesotho Democracy Programme (LDP), held a two days workshop for Civil Society Organisations (CSO's) with the intention to map ways in which Civil Society Organisations can meaningfully engage in participatory parliamentary processes in Lesotho. The workshop was held at the Lesotho National Convention Centre on the 28th -29th June 2007.

The workshop was officially opened by TRC director, Miss Matseliso Ntsoelikane. In her welcome remarks, Miss Ntsoelikane pointed out that Civil Society Organisations should play a leading role as drivers to making a positive change and ensuring that the parliament is opened and closer to the people.

The SAIIA Director of Studies, Mrs. Neuma Grobbelaar, stated in her introductory remarks that amongst the challenges that CSO's should deal with in order to strengthen Lesotho Democracy, there is that of little or non contact with parliament, poor or non functional parliamentary committees, lack of knowledge by CSO's on their constitutional rights. She ended her speech by appealing to members of various CSO's who had attended the workshop that she hoped, the workshop, is going to be of great importance in charting a way for CSO's and parliament engagement.

In his presentation Honuorable Lekhetho Rakuoane, the Member of Lesotho Parliament, stated that the expectation, after establishment of Parliamentary Reforms Committee, was to have improved and functioning parliament committees, openness of parliament to the people, good relations between MP's and the electorate, autonomous parliamentary service commission and new revised standing orders.

When responding to some of the questions that were asked Hon. Rakuoane said the Parliament of Lesotho needs to be capacitated with resources and skills, he went on to say each committee needs to be furnished with professional person to assist it while caring out its daily duties.

Mr. Mokhele who is the Assistant Hansard Editor made a presentation on the current operation of constituency offices and how they should operate. In his presentation Mr. Mokhele pointed that the Government does not have offices for Constituency secretaries but they rent a house in each constituency where the constituency secretaries use as their offices. He went on to say Constituency secretaries are political appointees, no qualifications are needed to get their positions, they report to their Members of Parliament(MP's), and MP's can take them out of office if they are no longer satisfied with their services. According to Mr. Mokhele the main duty of Constituency Secretaries is to take reports from the public to the MP and vice-versa.

Attendants of the workshop seemed to be concerned that Constituency Secretaries, being political appointees and directly under control of constituency MPs, might be biased and serve the interests of their political party followers and neglect the interest of other people in constituencies. It was suggested that constituency Secretaries should be elected by the people who live within the constituency as opposed to being appointed by MPs.

Mr. Tim Hughs from South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) made a presentation on Parliamentary-Civil Society Engagement citing experiences from some SADC countries. He cited an example of Malawi where Civil Society Organisations stopped a mining contract, that was not known to the people, that was about to be completed. In this case, natural resource of the country was about to be extracted yet nobody knew how the contract was going to benefit the country and its people. This example shows how effective and influential Civil Society Organisations can be.

Mr. Stefan Gilbert from IDASA made a presentation on Advocacy Strategies. This was welcomed by attendants of the workshop because it will assist them to follow all necessary procedures while advocating their issues to parliament. It also informed them about various channels that they can be used to advocate their issues.

Mr. Lira Theko from Transformation Resource Centre made a presentation on the challenges towards a participatory Parliament. In his presentation Mr. Theko pointed out that public participation in Parliament has been very low or non-existent and he said this is due to lack of information and knowledge to the people that they are expected to contribute in daily functioning of Parliament. He went on to say people take Parliament to be a place for elected representatives only. He urged the people to participate in parliamentary business by contacting their MP's, attending Parliament Portfolio Committee meetings, submitting petitions to relevant parliament committees, joining political parties and in many other ways.

The workshop was closed after attendants had formulated what is called CSO Advocacy Strategy for increased Participation in Parliament Process with more emphasis on establishment of Public Participatory Offices to enable the people to engage with parliament.