masked men rule, or not

This morning I heard citizen reports on Harvest FM that some soldiers had been relieved of their weapons by some thugs driving a vehicle with US Embassy plates. The reports continued that the soldiers who are manning the roadblocks are abusive and have been assaulting people. Later in the day reports indicate that they have "abducted" for want of a better word, some people from Ha Leqele. According to reports the soldiers are masked. I didn't believe this until I saw it with my own eyes. The was a group of masked thugs just a few minutes ago in a government registered Toyota Hiace and a 4x4 probably a Nissan, also government registered, at the junction where Mpil0 meets Pioneer. So its true, the lawlessness has begun, all this in the name of the law.

six to six is good for something...

I spent this morning ruing the curtaillement of my freedom. And this evening having the most fun I have had in years! i just discovered You Tube. yes, I new about it. I didn't quite understand the point. Now I do, I found a video of Stan Getz and Trane playing Hackensack, and Trane playing "My Favourite Things". Rollins and Don Cherry playing "52nd Street Blues". Marsalis playing Haydn's Trumpet Concerto and "Cherokee" with the LCJO at Albert Hall. Classic! Altogether a fun Sunday evening. Thank you LCD.

and this too shall pass

A curfew was announced in the Maseru District on June 15th. It is effective immediately. Ostensibly, it has been announced in order to free the police to contain an armed criminal element that is distabilising the capital city (and district?).

The curfew will hit the low income group hardest, all street vendors will be significantly affected as thier right to free and thier customer's right to free movement is curtailled. The factories and anybody running plant that needs to work 24 hours will also be very hard hit, the transport industry either needs to obtain permits or re-arrange thier routes. Consider the case of a taxi driver who needs to start ferrying his passengers to work starting a 6:00am, when and how is he expected to get to work? How is he expected to get home after he has disembarked his last passengers at 6:00pm? Do we have the capacity to ferry everybody home and have the streets clear by 6:00pm? Would the objective still not be met if the restrictions we imposed from 5:00am to 8:00pm?

Why do we have roadblocks that are manned exclusively by very young and discourteous soldiers? While are male soldiers feeling up er- excuse me, searching women? What are the roadblocks intended to achieve? Do those who are manning them know what they are looking for? What will they do if they find it? Where do thier loyalities lie?

Is the curfew an effective remedy for the problems that have been identified? If it is, how will we know that it is effective? If its not, will our leadership be brave enough to admit that they were wrong? That they trampled over the rights of the many because of the ineptitude of the few?

Yes, this too shall pass, whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger. We shall overcome.

and a 100 days later....

Yes, its been 100 days! Exactly 107 since election day. Mosisili has had our mandate for a 100 days, what has he done with it?

I recall the following events from the last 100 days:

1. A limp budget speech
2. SADC report still unpublished
3. Mosisili's South African ID is now in the public domain
4. Heavy casualties in road incidents
5. MP's have started availing of themselves of the interest free loans
   
6. Children have died from expired food
7. Judges have also been "rewarded" with the M4000.00 Mercs.
8. A "motion of confidence" was tabled in parliament
   
9. Mystery fire at Qobosheaneng
10. ABC has not disintegrated. Instead it seems to still be growing.
    

Please add or subtract from my list...

They say "ha li fofe, ha ho tatoe, moruo o hole" since we no longer write Sesotho properly, I will leave the intepretation to you. I have never come across a more apt slogan. In a way it has characterized the last 100 days.

qhobosheaneng fire

I was woken up this morning by a call from a friend; his message "Qhobosheaneng is on fire. It is raging out of control, the fire brigade - if you can call them that, is unable to deal with it and our neighbours (South Africa) have been summoned to help."

Qhobosheaneng was indeed on fire, the fire brigade's ineptitude was apparent as usual. They are not equipped to deal with any fire on any floor above the second floor. The third floor was on fire. This was a repeat of the Lesotho Sun fire, a comedy of errors if only it was not so serious.

Government offices are very susceptible to fire:

• there is too much paper
• the fire door are proped open
• there is no policy on buying heaters - thus open flame heaters (gas) and bar heaters proliferate, these are known to be dangerous.
• the total load on any of the electrical sockets is not monitored
• there is no fire detection system -even where one was installed it has been switched of or has not be tested.
• there is no fire suppression system in most places.
• no building has a fire marshal and thus there have never been any fire drills
• staff have never received any fire training.
• etc.

The real question now is what has been lost? I am not talking about the furniture and fittings but rather about the information that was kept in those offices, paper, computer files etc., how much of it can we reconstruct? A what cost? Will we learn? What will we do different next time?

Why that wing? Why those offices? Why now?

are we ready to listen to the youth?

I am not quite sure what the definition of youth is, that is, I am trying to find a cut-off date, when does one stop being young? I know that I am not young anymore, I left varsity about 20 years back! When did I stop being young? Was it 4, 10 or 15 years later? What I do know is that then, like now, there did not seem to be any way for the youth to participate effectively in decisions that affected their future.

In my view, there are two parties to blame, the curriculum developers for not being sufficiently interested in civic education, and the youth for not realising that they are responsible for their own destiny. However, apportioning blame is not going to solve the problem. What is needed is a way to get the youth to participate or at the very minimum develop an avenue for making sure that their voice is heard. In my view there a many ways in which this can be achieved. I have provided examples below.

1. through political party youth wings
2. through youth business chambers or business groupings
3. college and universities alumni societies
4. church youth groups
5. professional societies

Each one of these has limitations as to its efficacy, the political party youth wings tend to polarise the youth and debate at this level turns into rhetoric and grandstanding. I am not aware of any youth business chambers, nor am I aware of any moves by the existing business chambers to try and get young business men and women to participate in their initiatives. The NUL alumni society which is expected to be the leading and most strategically important alumni society in Lesotho is dead. Church youth groups do not seem to want to address the role of the youth in society, they instead tend to focus on the family and the young people's relation with the church and ministry. There are very few professional societies in Lesotho, and those that are there are very docile.

I know that I have painted a bleak picture, however, I have also demonstrated how easy it would be create a credible society that had a strong youth component. If I were to start such a society I would aim for the resurrection of the NUL Alumni Society, it would allow the youth to participate effectively and would not necessarily disenfranchise me from participating, its a forum that can be easily transition to a trusted convener on any issue. It would allow the youth's voice to be heard and that voice would have the benefit of the counsel of age.

I would give up my anonymity in a flash to participate in the renaissance of the NUL Alumni Society. I am ready to listen and engage effectively, I am old enough to have made a few friends in the right places and have the clout required to kick a few doors. I can make noise, someone will listen. A former boss once said that in assessing any situation figure out whether you are in control or want to be, whether you can influence the outcome, whether you need to lend support or simply get out of the way. I don't want control I only wish to lend support where I can.

are we ready for democracy?

Matlosa and Shale of EISA state that:

"It should be emphasised that Lesotho’s politics tends to be marked by zero-sum nature of engagement of politicians across and within parties. This is explicable, in part, by reference to the country’s poor resource endowment. A small, landlocked and impoverished Lesotho has always been mired by conflict-ridden politics, in part, because the political elite perceive politics (through parties and the legislature) as a license to access state resources. Given bleak prospects for accumulation in the private sector, the state becomes a major avenue for accumulation and that explains why contestation for state power among the elite becomes so fierce and has generated protracted violent conflicts in the past. This helps us pose even a bigger or complex problem: what exactly are prospects for building and sustaining representative democracy in poor countries
without a sound economic base like Lesotho?"

On my first reading of this statement I was aghast, I know Matlosa! He is a son of the soil, we have shared lots of laughs, had a few beers, discussed serious issues, agreed and differed, how dare he? Who is he to assert that we are probably doomed to and endless zero-sum game?

In fairness, by the time I got to the part I have quoted I had already read and agreed with a large part of his analysis and had started reflecting on the discussion I had had with one of my very smart lawyer friends the previous evening. The purpose of my blog today is to provide examples that prove Matlosa and Shale's point while also highlighting some of the anomalies in my beloved mountain kingdom.

Sometime in the not too distant past parliament approved salary increases and benefits for parliamentarians, there was some disquiet about the revisions but the debate did not take on the intensity of the Merc issue. The salient points to recall from these are:

• MPs supposedly awarded themselves an 84% salary increase
• MPs supposedly also approved a scheme where each of them was entitled to an interest free loan of M500,000.00

My friend asserted that the parliamentarian's loan scheme costs us as taxpayers much more than the Mercedes Benz and Camry issue, and that we have kept quiet about it. I argued that we saw the Mercs and Camry everyday and that they always serve as a reminder that no matter how hard we work for equality it always seems to be elusive, that some appear to gain advantages that are not congruent with the amount of effort put in. He invited me to research for myself and see which was the worse evil, the Mercs and Camrys or the loan scheme.

My research has revealed the following:

• assuming 24 Merc E280 @ M445,000 are bought for cash we would spend M10,680,000.00
• if each of the Mercs was depreciated at 20% year, the car would have a value of M227,840.00 at the end of the three years.
  
• If these Mercs were then disposed as they were this year the lost to the taxpayer would be M227,480 * 24 = M5,468,160.00

I have been very simplistic in my assumption, I have assumed that the government would pay cash for the cars thus avoiding interest. I have completely factored out Imperial. I know that the govt. can get the Merc for much less money if they really tried. I have also figured the addition of about 40 Lexus is250s would not have a major impact on the above figures at worst they would merely double. The Lexi (is that what you call them when there's more than one?) would depreciate faster say 25%.

Now, lets analyse the loans, for simplicity I am going to assume that the Senator's are not entitled to the privileges that the parliamentarians enjoy. So my figures will be based on 120 MPs.

• if each MP were to avail themself of the interest free loan in the first three months of their appointment then we as tax payer would fork out M 500,000 * 120 = M60,000,000.00
• If was assume that the current rate of interest is 11% with a term of 5 years (expected stay in parliament) then the MP saves M152,272.69 in interest. The formula to calculate this is very simple in excel =(pmt(.11/12,60,500000) *60+500000),explanation offered on request.
• For 120 parliamentarians this figure is 152,272.69 * 120 = M18,272,723.06 this is already way over the cost of the Mercs.
• To make matters more interesting assume that each MP took the money and invested it on the stock market with a 10% annual return and did not touch the money for five years then you get the following picture:
• Value of investment end Year 1: M500,000*1.1 = M550,000.00
• End of Year 2 = M550,000*1.1 = M605,000.00
• By end Year 5 we have = M732,050* 1.1= M805,255.00
• At this juncture the member can repay the loan at one go a keep a profit of M805,255.00 - M500,000 = M305,255.00. Imagine if you were an MP for two consecutive terms!
  
• Now if all 120 MP were really smart they would then put their earnings together M305,255.00*120 = M36,630,600.00 and use this war chest to prosecute really heavy BEE deals in both Lesotho and South Africa. And they can claim, factually, never to have used public money!

Again I have been very simplistic in my assumptions, if you take a personal loan, then you pay interest with after tax earnings, that is, the cost of the loan to you is much higher than the assumptions made here. You would have to work much harder to repay the same loan, assuming the same period you would need M2,537.00 extra per month in after tax money!

If any of them are astute, which some are, what they will most likely do is use the loan to set-up businesses that will compete with us, the tax payers. They will use our taxes to ensure theirs and their kids advantage. If Lesotho were to put the M60,000,000.00 into Bedco so many lives could be changed, so many families impacted, so many more than 120.

So, if it were you, what would you do? Would you vote against the interest free loan? Would you strengthen Bedco, or would you feather your nest? Remember, you only live once!

Lest I forget the quotation above is from http://www.eisa.org.za/PDF/les2006floorcross.pdf

Are we a lawless nation?

The issues around ho metsoa hoa NIP continue to be more interesting as more and more information is becomes available. I reprise my argument that both LCD and ABC undermined the spirit of the law when they stood for elections as virtually independents. Some of the stuff I found out over the weekend is very interesting even if unsubstantiated. Some of my associates indicated that:

• the LCD/NIP alliance was not registered with the IEC
• the ABC/LWP alliance was not registered with the IEC
• Mr. Manyeli's first complaint about the party list issue was brought to the IEC after the closing date for submitting part lists
• The IEC was not party to any of the suits that were brought to court regarding the NIP party list issue and was never served with a Court Order indicating a change of party list.
• There is a case currently in court which make these issues sub-judicae for the contesting and cited parties (LCD, Marematlou and IEC)
• Thus LCD cannot easily defend itself, while ABC can raise the issue and obscure the facts.

I am not going to dwell on the implications of this state of affairs, suffice to say the more information we have the more complicated or simpler the debate becomes. We have a situation in which two parties gambled and one gained much more the other. The loser is now trying to use every trick in their arsenal to unseat the winner.

The title of my blog today is does government work? I ask this question not so much because I don't know, but rather because I find myself asking whether those in power do not see the same things that I see. We seem to live in a general state of chaos, traffic lights don't work, road repairs last for no more than a few months, storm water drainage in the middle of Maseru is non-functional. Broadcasting is not regulated, if it is the regulation is very lax. Things that used to happen almost immediately now take forever, try applying for a passport!

This general nonchalance has permeated almost every sector of the economy. What perplexes me more is that those who are supposed to lead by example don't. Some of the most inconsiderate drivers are those that drive the huge 4x4 that have been allocated to ministers, on Friday during rush hour one of these behemoths was double-parked in the space reserved for taxi's on Pioneer Road just outside the Lancer's Inn Bakery, thus forcing the taxis to stop in the middle of the busy street to disembark their customers. The driver did not care, and I am sure that his boss, the minister, probably assumed that being an idiot is a privilege of office. Whilst I am singling out the specific minister, there were a number of cars encumbering the reserved taxi zone across the road (LNDC Centre). Why do we need to be policed to do the right thing? Have we become a lawless nation? There is a saying that every people get the government that they deserve, perhaps we deserve the government we have.

watering hole news - a bit of this and that

Last evening, I went to out to my favorite watering hole to share a glass of milk with friends, ala Rwanda, as usual we got round to discussing the subject of the moment, the very interesting times in which we live. Three points were brought up:

1. the answer to my friend's question: Apparently Mosisili rules the VOTES and Thabane rules the people, thus Thabane can command the people while Mosisili can only appeal to the votes.
   
2. that the government is going to intensify its undermining of the taxi industry, rumour has it that government has ordered more buses in order not to fall victim to the taxi industry again
3. that the formula used to for the calculation of proportional representation seats was completely invalid if ABC was decoupled from LWP and LCD was decoupled from NIP.
   

Of these three points only the later two are interesting.

The government has been talking about smart partnership and public private partnerships (PPP) these are supposed to benefit all stakeholders in that services that should be provided by government such as transport are provided by the private sector in partnership with government; government provides the regulation and the private sector provides the service at a reasonable costs because of the supposedly greater efficiencies that the private sector is able to leverage from their investments. In this situation everybody wins, the service is reliable, efficient and cost effective, the public is happy and government is freed from managing yet another service for which they have neither aptitude nor inclination. (Please note that I am not attempting to describe the taxi industry as its currently constituted, but rather the industry as it could be if all stakeholders took their role seriously.)

What concerns me is that the government's willingness to risk its credibility over such an insignificant issue, the government has not taken the time to engage with the taxi owners and the business community to try and understand why they closed their businesses, as usual government has talked at them and expected compliance. The were a few exhortations on radio, at no point did government say, "look we have the convention centre let us meet there in a few hours and work out a common stance: after all you are losing money we are losing credibility we are in this together." The whole smart partnership and PPP issue will unravel in one fell swoop if government were to go ahead with the rumoured ill thought and reactionary bus scheme. What, after all, would be the point of setting up a business if, government were going to use your taxes to compete with you?

The third point referred to the formula used to calculate the PR seats, my friends insisted the formula "fell apart" if the ABC/LWP and LCD/NIP alliance was not formalised, they insisted the alliances should be formalised and that the the alliance partners should be treated as one entity for the purpose of allocating PR seats. If have already blogged about what the outcome would be if this model was followed. What I found interesting was that my ABC colleagues seem to want to use every advantage at their disposal to get their way. The ABC/LWP alliance loses nothing if the alliance is formalised. The LCD would lose almost all the 21 seats that they have gained from their loose alliance with NIP. What my ABC colleagues are in fact saying is yes, we undermined the spirit of the law, in retrospect we are guilty, could we go back and rectify this situation. My question is would we have this generosity if the tables were reversed?

I have another question, should we reconstitute the Independent Political Authority (IPA)?

post election musings - lcd builds on mud

Today I approved a few comments to my blog. I have not had a chance to read them all, I skimmed and scanned them to ensure that they were free of invectives which all of them were. If I missed any the error is entirely mine. I also received a call from a close friend whose comment was "I read this and knew it was you, go ahead deny it!", I also note that Nkokoto (not his real name) has accussed me of maintaining anonymity while I accuse others of using anonymity to libel and slander. He has put forth good reasons for me not to maintain my anonymity and equally good reasons why a should maintain it. For now, I chose to be anonymous, at least to those who might victimise me because of the stance I have taken and the can of worms I am potentially opening. I promise to address all your comments, I don't have all the answers, just my opinion. Where more info is needed I will seek it if possible.

I also wanted to share some of my post elections musing with you. I wrote two articles immediately after the elections, the first one has already been posted to this forum with the heading LCD Wins Elections, ABC the heart of Lesotho. The second article is attached below and focuses on the LCD. I reread this article after I hung-up with the caller I refered to earlier, he said "How can you hire people, and somebody else tells them when to go to work, and when not to go to work and you still say you are in control?"

LCD Builds on Mud

Chapter Nine of Nicollò Machiavelli’s seminal treatise on government, “The Prince”, quotes the proverb “He who builds on the people, builds on mud”. The chapter deals with what Machiavelli terms “civil principalities”. These kinds of principalities are analogous to modern governments. LCD’s election victory reminded me of this old proverb and made me reach for my bedside copy of Machiavelli’s most infamous work.

Machiavelli asserts that governments that are transitioning between civil and absolute order are insecure because their leaders rule either personally through their charisma or through magistrates (the civil service). LCD’s leader depends on the magistracy to rule, thus he is completely dependent on the goodwill of those citizens that have been elevated to the magistracy. Machiavelli observes that unfortunately, especially in tumultuous times; the magistracy can destroy the government with ease, either by intrigue or through open defiance. Citizens interact with the civil services much more than they interact with politicians, and are used to obeying them, thus they will be more inclined to take orders from the civil services than politicians.

When forming his government, Mosisili would do well to heed Machiavelli’s advice. The ABC has won over the hearts of the magistracy; he on the other hand has the mandate of the people. Unfortunately for the LCD, its mandate is dependent on those who do not have a significant role in the economic activities or governance of the country. The rural dwellers have very little interaction with the government, and where they do have business with government, it is as dependents rather than partners or informed consumers. Thus their allegiance to the LCD can be swayed by their interaction with the civil service. If discontent in the civil service is allowed to fester, it will trickle to the grass roots; Mosisili needs the civil service to rule, it does not need him. The LCD then, would do well to mend bridges with the civil service and ensure that it reaches out to its nascent but very powerful adversary. The other old proverb “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer” has never been more apt.

Fundamentally, Mosisili’s government needs to distance itself from obsequious and myopic advisors. The LCD, like the ABC, needs to establish a policy think-tank that can tackle the various policy challenges facing the country. Unlike the ABC, the LCD being the government of the day can, use the ABC supporter’s taxes to pay for the service. After all, it is part of the proposed Vision 2020 interventions. Incidentally, the constitution also calls for the establishment of a National Planning Board, the think-tank could very easily serve as the Planning Board’s secretariat and ensure that the Planning Board’s reflections and deliberations are guided by policy priorities and expert research and opinion.

Transparency, Accountability and Openness

A lot of observers and political analysts, use the terms openness, transparency and accountability synonymously, they are not; accountability is about being able to explain the decision that one made within a specific context, as well as accepting responsibility for those decisions. Accountability is thus post facto, transparency on the other hand is about having the decision making process itself being made visible, and openness is more radical in that it allows for participation in the decision making process itself. Because of its past arrogance; the Mercedes Benz saga, the ill-timed and ill-advised Camry to Lexus issue, etc.; the LCD government has an obligation to transition from a just accountability to openness or ‘radical honesty’ as it is sometimes called. There is nothing that will win over the civil services more quickly or root out the cancerous corruption that has tainted the civil service. The civil service needs to be reminded that they are the servants of the people and that their duty is facilitation not obstruction. I am confident that my musings on this subject will resonate with many that have been the victims of the civil services’ ineptitude and nonchalance.

Eradication of Foot in Mouth Disease

Mosisili’s invectives, which have characterised the LCD election campaign need to be nipped in the bud. The party elders have a duty to chastise their leader and offer sagacious advice, if I were them my advice would be “think twice, speak once”. He after all, speaks on their behalf and whatever he says is assumed to have their blessing. The prime minister is advised to obtain the service of a professional communication counselor and above all to heed their advice. He would do well to ensure that others in his party, particularly pretenders to his throne, keep their mouths firmly closed lest they put their feet in them.

Elected representatives need to be seen to be supporting state institutions and having confidence in them. The open criticism of the police and the tendency of ministers to parlé their opinions as if they are of no consequence must be controlled; by the very definition of their job, ministers cannot have opinions, what comes from their mouths is either policy or fact. They too, would do well to engage brain before mouth.

Role of Ministers

The minister’s first task, like any other manager is to direct resources to achieve results. Directing resources requires a conductor not a fiddler, the conductor hears and sees the whole orchestra, the fiddler only his fiddle. Thus ministers must immerse themselves in the problems of the country and understand their piece of the puzzle; however, given that they are conductors they should not lose sight of the whole. Above all, ministers as leaders must lead, their leadership must be assertive and manifest, the country can no longer afford pusillanimous leadership. Mosisili as the capo di tutti capi, must wield an axe and be prepared to use it.

stay away

I am breaking a promise to myself:"thy shall avoid blogging about the stay away." My reasons for avoiding this topic are manifest, chief among them being that I have not had a chance to study the issues under dispute to my satisfaction. This principal reason has been set aside by two comments that were made one radio this morning; one comment was by Mohlabi Tsekoa, the other by an ordinary citizen on a different radio station. The comments, are not being quoted verbatim just the essence is being distilled.

Mohlabi Tsekoa asserted that the Court of Appeal has a jurisdiction to hear the issue of the NIP party lists as this is a pre-election issue. He also indicated that according to the law, the court does not have jurisdiction on any disputes pertaining to disputes resulting from the election process. That only the High Court has jurisdiction over such matters.

The lady, whose name I did not get, indicated that over the past few days and weeks the issue of "ho noa hoa NIP" has been discussed in public fora and the opposition has taken a clear stance, to the extent that they called for a stay away from the parliamentary floor, and that it is surprising that the government is only responding today. Her basic tenet was because of their failure to respond and engage the opposition we, the public, have been allowed to make up our minds about the issues under dispute without sufficient information, and that it is a little late to appeal to us to not to heed the call to stay away.

In my mind, Tsekoa's argument, however technically correct is moot since the issue of the party list has direct bearing on the outcome of the elections. If the decision of the high court was not appealed and the outcome of the elections had remained the same Mosisili would have been unable to :

• choose at least three members of his cabinet from within the ranks of parliament as they would not have made it to parliament
• necessarily select the same Senators as the composition of the Council of State may have been different (at least two ministers are affected)

A more significant issue is that the balance of power in parliament would have been tenuous at best, while it is possible that we would still have an LCD led government that outcome cannot be assumed, the LCD would have 62 seats and the opposition total would be 57, in this scenario it is easy to anticipate that floor crossing from the ruling LCD would have been highly likely and that the current government may have lost out to an opposition alliance. Given, the above it is very Tsekoa's argument raises a lot of concern, that it is OK to use the court and the appeal process to guarantee a favourable election outcome. That those is power have the right to manipulate our resources to maintain the status quo even if they undermine the spirit of the law.

The lady who spoke about the LCD's silence on the NIP issue touched on another of my pain points, we have an extremely uncommunicative government, they do not talk to us, they do not engage us, surprisingly they are aware that they lost "our" vote, that is, the vote of the urban dwellers. Yet, instead of making amends, instead of reaching out and trying to ensure that we understand their thinking and thus can defend it they have kept quiet at best, and have possibly become hostile and petty. Their, silence and arrogance has caused us to mistrust them more and more and as I indicated in a prior article, the opposition's communication machinery is working effectively, the government would do well to learn from them.

Today's mass stay-away could have been easily averted if the government had engaged the taxi owners, if taxis were running people would have gone to work. The only thing needed to get taxis running is to persuade the owners that they should run their taxis, instead government has indicated how they would undermine the industry by providing alternatives to taxis, why would the taxi industry prop-up a government that undermines them?

should politicians blog?

I am now writing the fourth installment of my blog, I had a different topic in mind until I asked myself the question, why do I blog? I started blogging as a reponse to topix.net, I wanted to give some substance to the discussions there, to harness and manifest the good, to placate the angry, to provide information to those in need, to change hearts and minds. In short, I wanted debate, I wanted a way to participate in our nascent democracy without necessarily taking public office (at least not yet.) In answering myself a new question came up, "Should Mosisili blog?" This has now been be extended to should politicians blog?

Imagine, if there was a blog in which Mosisili himself was able to explain to us the constraints he had when picking his cabinet and what his expectations were from each of his ministers? Imagine if each of the cabinet members themselves blogged about the daily challenges of thier work and sought our participation in addressing these challenges? Imagine if all of our parliamentarians blogged and read (and hopefully used) the comments that we would leave them? Imagine that, a government to which we would have access; access to their thoughts and they access to ours.

Imagine an opposition that works in tandem with the people to hold government accountable, that is au courant with their thoughts and aspirations. As John Lennon said "Its easy if you try."

In Africa, I am aware of only Thabo Mbeki's blog on the ANC website. In the UK and the US a number of politicians have blogs or podcasts. The following site has more details http://www.bloggerheads.com/politicians.asp

Retrospective - LCD Wins Elections, ABC the Heart of Lesotho

I wrote the article below, on February 19th, the article was sparked by the debate I had with a NUL political science lecturer. At the time, I was not aware of the Lesotho Forum on topix.net and am still not sure whether it already existed, I was reminded of this article by a recent submission in that very same forum.

I have also noted that some who read my last entry failed to read the title, "random musings- ho thiba senqu ka matsoho", thus some missed my point that trying to censor the Internet was a futile exercise. I have also incidentally been, labelled or pigeonholed by somebody claiming to "speak OUR minds" (emphasis mine). I am supposedly an LCD sympathiser because I refuse to accept that we need to resort to being libelous in order to exercise our constitutional right to free speech. I can not accept that we have the right to hide behind anonymity in order to libel and slander. The main point I was making is that even on the Internet the rule of law still applies, and that governments and those who have been wronged have remedies that are available to them under the law. The other point was that our constitution guarantees us certain rights and that those rights are balanced against each other. Does this automatically qualify me as an LCD supporter and sympathiser? If they (LCD) had were really like that, then I would be in good company.

In my view, and I speak MY mind, I use fora such as topix.net because I want to hold the government accountable, I want to remind them that they are my servants and that they should treat me with respect and be able to explain their decisions to me, that I sometimes have the same or more information than they do. That I am no longer willing to be just a passive consumer of their services. That I will not be disenfranchised from participating in decisions that affect my future. That disagreement should not mean disrespect and confrontation. That advances in technology provide many avenues for me to not only participate, but to reach like minded people.

LCD Wins Elections, ABC the Heart of Lesotho

The incumbent LCD government has been returned by an overwhelming number of voters, however, the newly formed All Basotho Convention a.k.a. Kobo Tata has won the hearts and minds of the people.

For a four month old party, ABC’s achievements are phenomenal. ABC has:

• The most recognizable brand in Lesotho
• Raised political awareness and participation among the youth
• Managed to politicize urban dwellers (increased political awareness and participation)
• Forced snap elections
• Been the only opposition party to win an unprecedented 17 constituency seats since the restoration of democracy in 1993
• Precipitated an independent audit of the electoral process, which is different from the usual electoral “observation”.
• Won an overwhelming majority of seats in major business centres:
• Capital city all seats (8)
• Mokhotlong, Butha Buthe, Hlotse, Maputsoe, Teyateyaneng, Roma, Peka, Likhetlane, Berea
• The remaining district capitals’ contribution to the economy is relatively small

Where to?

In order to survive as party, ABC needs to consolidate its wins and manage the expectations of its followers. This can only be achieved by constant communication and public acceptance of the election outcome. The ABC will only be able to consolidate its massive political gains when its leadership accepts the outcome and prepares itself for its new role: being an effective opposition. Secondly, the issue of party structures should be addressed fairly early, the party rides on the charisma and personal mystique of its leader, it must refine its mandate and bring to the fore other credible voices within the party. Communication remains one of the party’s most important challenges; the party would do well to learn from the LCD’s blunders in this regard. ABC must appoint or nominate a professional communications practitioner that will play a strategic role in handling its communications and ensuring that its brand continues to be both respected and credible.

In preparing for its new role, the party must continue to embrace and exploit technology, and the modern management practices that have been the hallmark of its campaign. It must be an effective member of parliamentary committees, a trusted convener and a voice of the private sector, workers and civil society. The party has an obligation to push for debate and possible reform of those laws that affect the majority of its membership. Secondly, the party must engage experts, who are the core of its following, to facilitate the formulation and adoption of policy. As can be expected, the LCD will use its current mandate to entrench itself with its strong rural electorate; the ABC can only counter this by making the process of governance transparent and by educating the rural voters about the difference between government and party. If voters are informed, they will be able to make informed decisions.

Given the identified challenges; poverty, lack of opportunities and the knowledge needed to change the status quo, the ABC would do well to ensure that they address these challenges, the easiest of them being knowledge. Knowledge is a free commodity, and it, like information, should be shared freely. Once people have knowledge they will act, how they act will be informed by the guidance they have received from those they believe to be credible.

random thoughts -ho thiba senqu ka matsoho

Today, Monday 12, March, at one of Maseru's surburbs and growing business districts the electricity cut-off at about 7:00am. This is probably the sixth time in the last two months that we have a power outage. Every time there is an outage the traffic lights up the road are also affected, just as they were today. Incredibly there were three police officers manning a "speed trap" 30 meters from the lights who did not care that motorists were not obeying the 4-way stop rule just thirty metres behind them. It seems that their job is not so much the maintenance of law and order, but rather the stuffing of pockets, whether the state's or thiers. The maintenance of "order" has become peripheral.

On, a different note, rumours that the government of the day wants to shutdown topix.net continue to circulate. I have tried to apply myself to whether government has grounds to do so, I am convinced that they do, however, I can not see how they would effect the ban. There are three ways to effect a ban on an Internet site:

• get the owner of the site to take it down
• get the owner of the site to restrict access to certain classes of IP address (ie, those registered to Lesotho entities)
  
• compel ISP that are licensed by you (i.e. licensed by the LTA) to block the offending sites

Of the above, it would appear that only the third option is viable, however, it is not practical since, we can still use proxies which most ISP's do not block to get to the said site. Censorship and territoriality in the Internet age is quite interesting indeed.

Why I think government has grounds to block topix.net: simple the forum has been used to undermine the constitutional rights of some Basotho. I will dwell on the strongest case only, Chapter 4 for the constitution states the rights of all Basotho, among the rights stated there is the "right to respect for private and family life". The forum has been particularly harsh on the assistant minister of home affairs, to the extent that I would claim that her constitutional rights have been violated. Regardless, of how much we may believe that her appointment makes her a public figure, we don't automatically gain the right to disrespect her, particularly to make allegations about issues that are not only in the past but are completely unrelated to the discharge of her duties.

topix.net

This blog was inspired by the comments and the energy that is the Lesotho Forum on topix.net. Topix has a major flaw, it has no rules, the discussions while raising important issues are directionless and the degenerate into insults. Despite this, various interesting topics have been brought up for discussion, I wish to single out the following:

• the role of the monarchy
• qualities required from a minister
• graft and corruption

The role of the monarchy: the questions and discussion on topix.net indicate that there is a need to explain the role of the monarchy to the populace there is a belief that the monarchy is out of touch with the ordinary people and adds no value to their lives. I have advanced my own arguments in the same forum about the role of the monarchy, however, the monarchy should itself justify its existence in order to ensure its continuity.

Qualities required from a minister: there is significant criticism of the PM's selection of Lineo Molise as assistant minister of home affairs. Other than the peripheral issue of her not winning constituency elections the two main issues that have riled most people seem to be:

• the assistant minister is too young
• she is alleged to have been appointed to the post as quid pro quo for sexual favours granted to those power.

I have argued that the minister's gender and youth have nothing to do with her ability to discharge her mandate, the alleged sexual trysts also have no bearing. I have asked that we should clarify and codify our expectations of minister or those in power, we seem to want to hold them to a certain moral level, perhaps we should explain what this moral level is, and prescribe a code of conduct for parliamentarians and senior government officials. Will any of you offer to write the code of conduct?

A disturbing issue has been the extreme misogyny that was demonstrated in the forums, I posed a question, and pose it again: would this be such a big issue if the appointee was a man?

Graft and corruption: a petition to boycott certain filling stations because they are allegedly owned by current and former cabinet ministers and that the said business does not pay taxes in Lesotho was widely circulated. The proponents of these allegations have failed to substantiate any of them, and have also refused to take their claims to the appropriate authorities, they have instead chosen, in my view, to undermine the rule of law by failing to report a crime that they claim to have been committed. Not paying taxes is a crime. Laundering money, which is what the proponents claim the business does, is a crime. Circumventing financial regulations and fiddling tenders are also crimes. Perpetrators of such crimes should be brought to book and evidence should not be hidden. Corruption continues because none of us will speak out, when we do find our voices we fail to use them effectively.

Doing my bit

The Chinese say the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. We have taken that step, we have acknowledged that all is not right in our kingdom, we have found our voice. Make your voice count, stand-up for what you believe in. I am planning to set-up a wiki with three main goals:

• consitutional review and comment
• review of current electoral laws
• development of parliamentary and civil service code of conduct

The nature of wiki's are that they evolve and take on a whole life of thier own. This will be my and your contribution to participative democracy in our beloved country. This will be the people's parliament. Will you take this journey with me?