There is something fundamentally wrong with these creatures we call our Members of Parliament (aka MPs).
We have encountered their destructive shenanigans in all the successive parliaments we have had throughout the entire history of our God forsaken Kingdom that “nobody has ever heard of”.
Scrutator had hoped the current crop of MPs (in this 11th parliament) will be different and will be better. Moreso, as most of them originate from that party of the rich that promised us a whole revolution for prosperity.
But alas, as they say in French - “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”- the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Since many of the current MPs hail from that rich party, my assumption was that they would be a wholly new breed. I had hoped they were in it to serve Basotho diligently as they promised.
That is disappointingly not the case. In fact the current 11th parliament is turning out to be the most corrupt in the history of this Kingdom that “nobody has ever heard of”. Remember, these MPs have already rejected a law that would have barred them from doing business with the State. In other words, they see nothing wrong with that brazen naked corruption. Where in this world do you get MPs who refuse to sanction a law stopping ministers from transacting with the very government in which they are serving? Yet, there we have it. The 11th parliament believes its keshto (alright) for ministers to get tenders from the very ministries they are leading.
Should it therefore be any wonder why this troubled Kingdom that “nobody has ever heard of” is a perennial laggard?
The Airport Stink
It is the manner in which these MPs have just handled the Moshoeshoe 1 Airport “Rehabilitation” project that has raised my ire. I am now convinced that this 11th parliament is a hoax, if not a fraud.
Witness how the MPs piled on each other in condemning the corrupt handling of the airport rehabilitation project.
In terms of testimonies before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), they were right to do so.
After listening to testimonies, they correctly concluded the circumstances within which the project was awarded to LSP Construction stink to the high heavens.
They correctly demanded the cancellation of the project in favour of a new, transparent tender process, hopefully involving properly qualified international companies to deliver a durable project.
They even went as far as demanding the dismissal of Minister Moteane, after his arms were found elbow deep in the national cookie jar? The MPs were right to find Ntate Moteane’s claims that he no longer has anything to do with his “former” company, enlisted by LSP for architectural services in the project, as laughable as they are sarcastic (or cocostic).
In fact, if you believe Ntate Moteane’s claims – thanks to the vigorous questioning of the MPs – you might as well believe that Likuena will qualify for and win the 2026 Soccer World Cup. Not only that, you will also believe that after winning it in 2026, Likuena will successfully defend it in the 2030 finals. If you possess such a fertile imagination, then you surely believe anything. Scrutator would love to bet with you.
Some of the MPs – particularly in the PAC – were so good in their interrogations of civil servants they would be far better as prosecutors or defense lawyers than those incompetent ones we regularly see in our courts.
Through their rigorous questioning, Principal Quantity Surveyor, Thebe Tiheli, from the Ministry of Education, admitted that he did not know what he was doing when he lavished more scores on LSP Construction to help it win the tender. And how does a man from the Ministry of Education, used to working on minor projects of rehabilitating dilapidated grass thatch primary schools, get assigned to evaluate such a massive tender to build a whole airport project under an entirely different Ministry of Public Works? Only in Lesotho of course?
Under intense questioning, Ntate Tiheli admitted that he should never have been part of the evaluating team of the airport project. He was way out of his depth for that.
PAC chairperson ‘Machabana Lemphane-Letsie was particularly a star in her grilling of Ntate Tiheli. She led the interrogation of those involved in a manner which proved the whole evaluation process was a hoax and a fraud.
MP Mamello Phooko was also a star in questioning why LSP Construction had been scored highly in experience despite its failure to submit any documents proving it had ever handled any airport projects of similar scope.
“I should have given zero,” a humble Ntate Tiheli admitted, recanting the high score of 18 marks out of 20 he lavished on LSP Construction for experience which it certainly did not have.
MP Moeketsi Motṧoane was steadfast that the awarding of the airport project sank to the high heavens. LSP Construction had not even included International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards in its proposal.
In a nutshell, the MPs clearly did a good job in exposing the award of the M184 million project as a fraud, a hoax and broad daylight thieving.
Summersault
What is bamboozling and astonishing is how they, after exposing this steal and, having correctly diagnosed the project as contrived theft and, after having correctly demanded that it be cancelled and re-tendered, decided to go behind their own backs and not only approve its budget, but give the greenlight for it to proceed with the very same company in whose favour the project was rigged?
It’s not only impossible to comprehend this behaviour, it proves one thing – our beloved country is doomed.
Here are our MPs, entrusted with protecting the public purse and ensuring that public funds are used for legitimate public benefit. They do diligent work in exposing a corrupt deal. They demand that it be reversed and redone. At the stroke of a pen, they greenlight the same project. They say let it proceed anyway and let the very same corrupt people they have exposed benefit from the M184 million of public funds. Isn’t it common sense that when a project is corrupt, it must be stopped, those responsible for the corruption jailed and public funds protected. But then, nothing in Lesotho constitutes common sense.
There is a lesson here nonetheless. Next time we see Mme Lemphane-Letsie and her colleagues strutting their stuff, and pretending that they are demanding accountability from public servants, let’s not take them seriously. They will only be grandstanding. There is no accountability for wrongdoing in Lesotho and for theft of public funds. That is a fact. What is disingenuous and unacceptable is for these MPs to try and deceive the masses that they are paragons of virtue, that they are trying to protect the public interest. They are not. They are as corrupt as the very same civil servants they pretend to be censuring?
Despite all the evidence of corruption in the airport project, no one will be held accountable after last week’s crass decision of the MPs to greenlight the project.
If I were Ntate Tiheli, I would just remain calm. Nobody will bother him over his corrupt behaviour which would otherwise have had him beheaded in China. Ntate Moteane should feel safe too. No one will touch him. So are all others involved in this stink. After all, that is the way of our Kingdom. That’s why we are another laggard in Africa. Just as we see with our roads, in a couple of years, the airport will be dilapidated again. As they say in South Africa, the Comrades need to eat. Another tender will be done. History will repeat itself. It will go to LSP again because by then, it will be the only company to claim “experience”. None of its directors will be in jail over their misleading claims in the first tender process. M184 million will be gone. All that will be left is to blame our ever worsening woes on DJ Trump’s tariffs. Certainly not on ourselves.
Ache!!!!
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