Majoro off to a bumpy start

MASERU-DR Moeketsi Majoro’s tenure as Prime Minister is off to a bumpy start, just a week after he took over the reins, as disgruntled MPs threatened to walk away and oust his government.
The MPs accuse Majoro of side-lining them when he appointed ministers last week.

The disgruntled MPs were even said to be now contemplating crossing the floor in Parliament and pass a vote-of-no-confidence in Majoro and torpedo his week-old government.

Sources close to the political developments told thepost this week that the MPs have begun lobbying in order to push their agenda.
It was however not clear if the MPs have the numbers to pass a vote-of-no-confidence on Majoro who now enjoys the support of at least 10 political parties in Parliament.

The All Basotho Convention (ABC) spokesman, Montoeli Masoetsa, confirmed that some MPs were not happy with Majoro’s cabinet appointments.
Masoetsa said the ABC national executive committee called the unhappy MPs for talks at the Parliament buildings.
“We hope we are going to move forward peacefully now,” Masoetsa said.
He however declined to reveal how many MPs were against Majoro’s appointments.

“It was just a few MPs but we were able to reprimand them,” Masoetsa said.
Sources within the ABC however say the number of “rebel MPs” could be as high as 30. The MPs were said to have been incensed after Majoro left them out when he appointed his cabinet.

They accused Majoro of “crossing the red line” when he snubbed them.
“He did not act within the confines that we gave him,” one MP who requested anonymity said.
“And he did not consult with the national executive committee when he advised the King to appoint the ministers.”
The MP said there was an agreement that Majoro would appoint ministers based on their professional skills and track record of where they had worked before.

He said they also expected Majoro to assess a person’s background before appointing them into cabinet.
“We are sick and tired of these ministers who trade insults and barbs on social media,” he said.

The MP said each district was expected to at least have one minister because ministers have resources that they could help to improve lives of people.

He accused Majoro of being “a one-man show” when he appointed cabinet.
“We now seem to be back to square one. He is doing exactly what Ntate Thabane was doing,” he said.
The new cabinet saw Majoro retaining the bulk of ministers who served under Thabane with a sprinkling of new faces from the Democratic Congress (DC) party and the Movement for Economic Change.
The Mabote MP, Fako Moshoeshoe, who was also said to be among the disgruntled lot, declined to comment when approached for comment by thepost.

He said the MPs were in the process of ironing out their differences as a party“I do not want to talk about this thing because we are building peace now,” Moshoeshoe said.
Meanwhile, the Bobatsi MP Sello Mooki slammed his party’s coalition deal with the Democratic Congress party.
“I did not sign in Parliament when some ABC MPs signed for that pact,” Mooki said.

He said he views the DC just like the Basotho Congress Party (BCP) and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party which dominated Lesotho’s politics since 1993.
He said these parties had failed to deliver services to the people despite being in power, albeit under different governments.
“They have failed my constituency and the country at large,” Mooki said.
He said he is only supporting his party’s coalition with the Alliance of Democrats (AD) because they were taking developments to his constituency which has been suffering for years.

He said AD MPs already had plans to connect electricity to villages in his constituency when the Thomas Thabane-led government collapsed a few weeks ago.
Mooki said it would be hypocritical of him to go back to his constituency and try to convince his people to back the new government with the DC when his own people had rejected that party at the polls.

Majara Molupe