reforms

Driving reforms without a vision

Author

Mr Mzimkhulu Sithetho

Managing Director of the Governance Institute for Sustainable Development and Editor-In-Chief of thizkingdom.com

These reforms are taking place without a clear vision where the country is headed and they might not see light of day on that front
MASERU: The much-talked-about reforms, which have become an agenda for the donor community, the regional body, SADC but which are not an agenda for the leadership of the country are a headless chicken that is not couched on a vision. The reforms have been born not out of a national vision of the country, but came out of a crisis and are intended to address not a far-sighted goal of the nation, but a crisis.

Where do the reforms come from?

Lesotho celebrated two decades since the second wave of democracy was ushered in Lesotho, post the 1993 elections. This was in 2013, just a year after installation of a Coalition Government, which was a new development in the politics of Lesotho. The voting patterns had dramatically changed during the 2012 general elections, with no single political party mustering enough seats in the National Assembly to form a government on its own. However, after installation of the Coalition Government, conflict erupted in that government, threatening its continuance. 

The interparty and intra-government conflict left the government hanging in a balance and threatened democratic consolidation as it spilled into the domain of the larger society. This resulted in the wreckage of the social fabric of society. This triggered the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to intervene by sending a SADC Observer Mission to Lesotho (SOMILES). This was prior to the 2015 snap election, which was seen then as a panacea to Lesotho's incessant conflict. 
After completion of its work, the SOMILES went beyond mere conflict and proposed a four-sector reform exercise. This, the SADC structure had seen as a remedial action to end the perennial challenge of conflicts in the Kingdom of Lesotho. Four sectors that had to undergo reform were identified, the security sector, judicial sector, media and information sector and the constitution. The four sectors were viewed as posing a threat to the country's stability and the general democratic consolidation as well as the resultant development of the Kingdom.

The Phumaphi Commission affirmed the recommendations of the SOMILE that Lesotho needed to undertake a reform exercise. Hardly two years after installation of the first Coalition Government in Lesotho, which was ushered in by the 2012 National Assembly elections, interparty and intra-government conflict erupted among coalition partners. This conflict spilled into the domain of the larger society, with a resultant effect of wreckage of the social fabric of society. Leader of the main partner in the Coalition and Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane, skipped the borders to seek solace in the neighbouring country, South Africa. This triggered the intervention of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which sent a SADC Observer Mission to Lesotho (SOMILES)  to assess the situation and recommend remedial action. A call for a snap election, which was to be in February 2015 was already made. The election was seen as renewal of the mandate conferred on the political leaders by the electorate and as a panacea to end Lesotho's perennial challenge of conflict. 

However, after completion of its work, the SOMILES went beyond mere conflict and proposed a four-sector reform exercise. This, the SADC structure had seen as a remedial action to end the perennial challenge of intra, interparty as well as cross-sectoral conflicts in the Kingdom of Lesotho. Four sectors that had to undergo reform were identified - the security sector, judicial sector, media and information sector, as well as the constitution. The four sectors were viewed as posing a threat to the country's stability and the peace-building initiative as well as the general democratic consolidation, these expected to lead to development of the Kingdom.
After the 2015 elections, interparty and cross-societal conflict erupted again, this time pitting various sectors against each other. These developments led to the leaders of the opposition parties fleeing the country and later, the assassination of Lieutenant-General Maaparankoe Mahao by elements within the army. SADC intervened again and appointed a Commission of Inquiry, which came to be known as the Phumaphi Commission of Inquiry to investigate events that led to the assassination of Lieutenant-General Maaparankoe Mahao. This was a couple of months after installation of a Government, post the 2015 snap polls.  Among its many recommendations, the Phumaphi Commission affirmed the SOMILES' recommendation that Lesotho needed to undertake a reform exercise if it were to realise stability and long-lasting peace.  The media featured in these reforms, together with other three sectors then. 

Post the Phumaphi Commission, when the Government of Lesotho implemented the reforms, the Government decided to increase the number of sectors that had to be reformed. This development was intended to have a comprehensive and all-encompassing reform exercise, taking on board all 'problematic sectors' that thwarted the desired development agenda of the country. The SOMILES and the Phumaphi Commission had concluded that though conflict was viewed as an impediment to Lesotho's ability to chart its desired developmental destiny, conflict was just a symptom of some rot in some of the key sectors of Lesotho society.


 No Vision, no reform 

A critical question to ask when a country is immersed with reforms is 'what does a reform mean? A reform is an expected development - transformation, rejuvenation and/or re-organisation of the sector. While a reform does not necessarily mean a complete overhaul of a sector, it does however, imply dramatic changes in the manner the sector is built, but with a keen interest in building on what is already there.  

Reforms normally take the form of institutional review and proposal for remedial action to address the identified shortfalls. It also includes capacity-development in deficient areas of a sector. It also includes policy and legislative framework strengthening in order to level the field for smooth operation of the sector in question. It needs a holistic approach as opposed to a myopic and narrow approach. Institutional review also includes review and reform of processes, systems, procedures and the general way of doing things. 
Reforms need also to embrace mindset change because revamping institutions to the exclusion of people who are going to work in those institutions is also critical. The argument here is that a country can have the best institutions and systems and processes, but lack the right attitudes that embrace change and are able to put those reforms into practice. The reform exercise will have been a futile exercise if it has not taken mindset shift into consideration.'

Without a vision, reform becomes difficult because those involved in the exercise flounder in the process. A reform has to be prompted by a far-sighted goal of achieving something for the nation. The leadership will identify factors which hinder attainment of a goal, and seek to find way of addressing the hinderances - these will be the reforms. The reforms are best implemented when they have a national agenda and are a result of a conscious, deliberate and committed effort of a country's leadership. They are rallying point of a nation's long-term vision. 

Reforms that are driven from outside, came as a result of a need to address a crisis will be external to the leadership and the agenda of a country. When the SOMILES Report stated that there was need for a sector-based reform exercise, a recommendation which was endorsed by the Phumaphi Commission Report, this did not stem from the leadership of the country. The leadership was then immersed in power wrangling and the thirst for power and had no vision to take the country anywhere, except to satisfy their myopic and narrow-focused desires, which were clearly against the will of the nation. This is the reason the leadership of the country is not concerned about whether the reforms succeed or not. The leadership that took over the reins of power in 2015 and only led the country for two years was focused on amassing as much political power as possible and ensuring that they collected as much from the public purse. They had no plan to reform the country. That is why they did not want to accept the Phumaphi Commission Report which among other issues, recommended multi-sector reforms. The leadership that followed in 2017 and is now engulfed in a bitter spat for power in their various political formations (ABC, BNP. AD and RCL) had no course to pursue a national vision for the nation. Their pretentious reform agenda was intended to only implement a part of the reforms - disciplining the army which had orchestrated their fall in 2014.

Donor and SADC-driven reforms

The reform agenda has now remained a focus of the European Union, the American Embassy to Lesotho and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It has also become an agenda for the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is now hell-bent to ensure the Lesotho leadership toes the line set out by the Phumaphi Commission recommendations. This was given credence by the fact that the last three years since the Phumaphi Commission had made the recommendations, the is no formidable progress on the implementation of the reforms. It was until the SADC through the facilitation of South Africa had to force the political leadership of the country to open parliament in order to confer on the reforms. A critical question is 'did Lesotho leadership not see value in the reforms to an extent of closing parliament indefinitely?' Did the leadership have to be told by SADC to reopen parliament to confer on the reforms? Did the leadership not see the need for establishment of a National Reform Authority to an extent that it had to come from outside?

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