’Marafaele Mohloboli
THE MOVEMENT for Economic Change Youth League (MECYL) says holding national elections would be the best way of addressing the current governance issues brought on by perceptions that the Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili-led government no longer enjoys the majority to continue in office.
MEC is led by former Small Business Development minister, Selibe Mochoboroane who was fired from government by Dr Mosisili after announcing he had left the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) where he was secretary-general after falling out with LCD leader and Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing.
The seven-party coalition government has been rocked by splits particularly in the Democratic Congress led by Dr Mosisili.
The DC lost a substantial number of legislators after former deputy leader Monyane Moleleki broke away in December to form the Alliance for Democrats (AD).
The opposition bloc consisting of the All Basotho Convention, AD, Basotho National Party (BNP) and Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL) parties announced on Tuesday that they would move a ‘no confidence’ motion against the government when parliament reconvenes tomorrow. Seventy-one legislators attended the presser, suggesting the opposition had greater numbers than those in the governing parties.
And yesterday, MECYL president Molumaela Lepeli said they “commended the opposition bloc for doing what is right in any democratic dispensation to ask the Prime Minister to hand over power after having recognised that government does not have the numerical supremacy to command the government”.
Mr Lepeli however, said elections would be the best way of resolving the governance issue.
“We agree fully with the opposition that the government doesn’t have the numbers but it is only that people should be afforded justice by being allowed to exercise their democratic right and elect someone with a mandate from them, by going to the polls,” Mr Lepeli said.
He said it was worrying that the opposition was planning on trampling upon other people’s rights by seeking to install AD leader, Mr Moleleki as prime minister without subjecting him to national elections.
“One would want to think that these people who know so much about democracy and are so willing to practice it would only do what is right and allow the people to have a choice of who should be their Prime Minister.
“Ntate Moleleki contested the elections under the DC flag and was mandated by the people of Machache, so he still needs to go to the polls to get a fresh mandate from his people under a different flag and not just become Prime Minister because of some agreement.
“We therefore call upon Prime Minister Mosisili to dissolve parliament and call fresh polls and allow the people to vote their own Prime Minister and that is what we believe to be true democracy.”
He said the opposition moves to have two prime ministers in the space of two years was calculated to serve individual rather than national interests.