Vultures circle in

…..Rows over tenders threaten Covid-19 fight….

IN June Thabo Khasipe, the Commissioner General of the Lesotho Revenue Authority was appointed chief executive of the National Emergency Command Centre (NECC). He found an organisation struggling to make an impact in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Its legal standing was in dispute and nothing much was happening.

Instead it was facing damaging allegations of rampant corruption and wasteful expenditure. Khasipe quickly changed the name to National Covid-19 Secretariat (Nacosec) and for a moment it appeared that Lesotho was ready to fight the pandemic. But over the past few weeks Khasipe has had to deal with incessant questions about Nacosec’s legality.
The secretariat had neither the money nor a bank account. Its core functions have stalled while the legal debate rages on. Khasipe and his team have reason to be frustrated. This week our Editor, Shakeman Mugari, spoke to Khasipe about Nacosec’s struggle to get things moving again. Below are excerpts from the interview.

How would you describe Nacosec two months after you took over?
Nacosec is alive despite the lingering questions about its legal standing. Practically there is an able and functioning team guided by a well-articulated organisational structure. We have the Prime Minister to whom the Ministerial Taskforce reports. The Minister of Health reports to the taskforce. I am heading the secretariat together with my two deputies. We have a professional team in which everyone is clear about their job.
It is however disheartening that people think Nacosec is a place where people are waiting to line their pockets. The website we have was funded by our Information Technology Manager who decided that we cannot be waiting for money to be available. This is the kind of dedication we have in the team.

The website has been useful in information dissemination, engaging the nation and tracking infections. We have developed a risk assessment and decision-making framework that guides strategy on the kind of social and economic restrictions to be implemented. Our communication through the various media platforms and the website is making a huge difference.

What is the focus now?
Now we are consulting various stakeholders to forge relationships crucial in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. We have district structures based on Nacosec’s governance guidelines. That structure includes the District Administrators (DA), District Medical Officers, District Disaster Managers and District Council Secretaries.

We have taken their views and built them into ours to make the governance guidelines. The idea is for the secretariat’s functions to be decentralised as much as possible. We cannot win the battle against Covid-19 unless we have the full participation right from the village level.
That decentralised structure is what makes the secretariat effective. It is the community leaders who are making crucial decisions every day. It is they who are telling us which bars are open and who has illegally crossed into the country.

Is that strategy working?
I am confident that in terms of strategy we are on the right track. We have decentralised the power and decision-making process to create a secretariat that is agile and able to quickly respond to issues and implement strategy. The DAs are taking charge of their own areas in this fight. Over the past week they have been making their own budgets and business plans that we are presenting to the cabinet.

In so doing we will be able to collect data that will inform our interventions. If you can measure it then you can manage it. We should be able to collect data right from the district level so that our decisions are well-informed. It is only through accurate data that we can target specific villages and districts for interventions to contain the spread of diseases.

What did you change?
The first decision was to create a competent team built with staff sourced from four different areas. We had those seconded from the government and parastatals. Then there are those hired and some offered by the private sector. So the talent is from a broad spectrum.

I can say we have a strong team in which everyone is clear about their role. Each one knows what to do, when and how. President Barack Obama once said Africa doesn’t need strongmen and strongwomen but strong institutions. We need clarity of governance.

We have been busy with stakeholder consultations so that we make informed decisions. Beyond the consultations we created various advisory groups. The security cluster made up of security forces is helping with the enforcement of the regulations within villages and at the borders. The cluster of heads of state companies is meeting every Wednesday to advise us on ways to fight the disease.

How are you dealing with the reputational damage caused by the allegations of corruption against the National Emergency Command Centre (NECC)?
I have never been under any illusion that NECC had suffered reputational damage because of the allegations of corruption. That’s why I sought cabinet’s approval to change the name. We wanted to break with the past and be seen as a different institution that can be judged by its own performance. I feel the narrative has, in a way, made it difficult because trust has been eroded. This mistrust is not limited to the secretariat.

We see it in the general attitude towards all systems and institutions in the government. In this country you are mistrusted until you prove otherwise. It’s a toxic mistrust because it makes people throw obstacles in the way of everything.
Even those who are mistrusted begin to doubt the intentions and sincerity of those who mistrust them. You begin to think the mistrust is based on some sinister motives. Those accusing others of being corrupt are probably even more corrupt.

What breeds that mistrust?
Part of it is historical because people make judgements based on what has happened in the past. But I believe here we are dealing with a culture of tenderpreneurship. When I came I said there were two main issues that will make us fail in this battle: political squabbles and tenderpreneurship.
The past two weeks have shown that tenderpreneurship is the biggest threat. There seems to be a battle for tender opportunities. Some people seem to believe that there is money to be made from this national crisis. To me that explains why some people are fighting Nacosec from all fronts. It is unfortunate because we are focusing on the wrong things. We are forgetting that we have a serious crisis on our hands and time is of essence.

Does Nacosec have the money to work?
For the past two months Nacosec has not had a cent. We have been operating without a bank account. We are using our own money to do small things. When we have meetings over weekends I use my own money to buy food for staff. We are doing the best we can but we cannot achieve much without resources. The process to open the account was at an advanced stage but we were told to stop at the last minute. In fact, we were told to stop the hiring and procurement as well.

We were told that some “good Samaritans” had advised that Nacosec legality is being challenged. They said the secretariat is standing on a shaky legal foundation. They said Khasipe cannot sign for government money because he doesn’t have the authority. We were told positions have to be advertised.

What could have triggered that?
That is where the tenderpreneurship issue comes in. I could not help but notice the coincidence that this noise started as soon as we advertised tenders for personal protective equipment (PPE), emergency services and a communication consultant. That immediately attracted attention to what Nacosec is doing and how it will spend money.

Nacosec was a darling until it wanted to spend money. I am told that some people even approached the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) to investigate the very idea of Nacosec. The advert for PPE was not even a tender but a request for information. We were merely saying all those supplying PPE should give us their details.

What did the DCEO say?
I am told that they have come up with a legal opinion that says Nacosec does not exist at law and therefore cannot spend government money. This is despite that there have been three legal notices dealing with the establishment of the Nacosec. These legal notices related to the establishment of the ministerial taskforce, setting up the Nacosec in accordance with the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) Act and my appointment as executive secretary.

They empower me to deploy the staff from the private and public sectors. We thought those legal notices were enough for us to work but then some people rushed to the DCEO. In addition to those legal notices the DMA Act gives far reaching powers to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office to make decisions during national disasters.

Section 4 (a) of that Act says the minister’s powers to “suspend the provisions of any regulatory statute prescribing the procedures for conduct of government business or the orders, rules or regulations or any government agency, if compliance with the provisions of any statute, order, rule or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay necessary action in coping with the disaster-induced emergency”.
Some even called to warn me about the tenders. When I asked why they raised a lot of technical arguments. I am not a lawyer but a manager hired to perform a national duty during an unprecedented disaster.

What of your own argument?
When all is said and done none of these issues should stop our national fight against the pandemic. We should not be squabbling when faced with such a crisis. I am not a lawyer so I really don’t care who is right or wrong. The issue is the people are dying and being infected while we engage in legal debates. Within a week hospitals will run out of PPE like coveralls and masks. The numbers are dwindling fast as we argue over who has the power to buy them. The M1.2 million masks we had are almost gone because a doctor or nurse can use more than 10 a day.

We are facing a disaster because legal arguments have hamstrung Nacosec for the past two weeks. What I want to make clear is that I am not saying that the law doesn’t matter. I am not asking to be allowed to violate any law or resist accountability. I am just saying we need to move fast because we have a disaster.

As we make legal arguments we must not lose sight of the fact that we are facing a crisis like no other. If we spend time debating the “how” then the “what” will not be done. We are running out of time. We need to buy PPE and educate our people.

What else has stopped because of those legal arguments?
As we speak now the owners of hotels and lodges used as quarantine facilities have not been paid. They have been asking for their money for the past five months. For weeks I have been asking for more time to get the payment through. Now they have lost patience. Some were here today and I said they should go to the Minister of Health.

They have told me they will evict the people. I can see a repeat of what happened during NECC when there were incessant arguments between the DMA and the Ministry of Health over who should buy PPE. In the end nothing was bought for months. The PPE we distributed three weeks ago was bought in March. The world is not waiting for Lesotho to place their orders.

So the longer we delay to make orders the longer it takes for us to get the supplies. At this rate we might get supplies in December. That is a scary prospect because it means a disaster. When bad things start happening we will be accused of neglecting our duty as Nacosec yet we are being blocked from doing our work.

What do you think is the solution to this impasse?
In my view this fight is not about legality but suspicion. There are people who think someone is out to line their pockets. Nacosec has never said it wants to violate procurement regulations to get things done. We are not saying regulations should be sacrificed. We are just saying we have an institution and we must allow it to work.

The legal issues can be expedited. We are also saying there are existing laws that we can use. There is nothing that says the Public Financial Management Act will not be followed. Even that law was designed with an understanding that some things will have to be urgently procured. It has clear processes to be followed in such instances. We are saying if there is a need to approve new limits then the ministerial taskforce can make that happen. The Minister in the PM’s office can also use his power enshrined in the DMA Act.

What is the state of isolation hospitals?
The truth is that Berea Hospital and Mafeteng Hospital, which are the only designated isolation centres, are not ready to take patients. At Berea Hospital there are no blankets and hot water. The food is not up to standard. The Mafeteng Hospital is in a terrible state as well. These are the issues we should be dealing with instead of bickering. There is a cost to these delays. You can argue that people isolated in those hospitals are likely to get worse because of the poor conditions they endure. We are putting people’s lives in danger while we argue.

There should be money to repair those hospitals but we are debating about the legal modalities of spending it. I am not saying lets throw around money without following procedure but there comes a time when you have to move fast to avert a crisis. In our case we seem to be concentrating on winning arguments instead of dealing with the issues that matter.

Are you confident that Nacosec will survive these troubles?
I am optimistic because there is strong support from both the Prime Minister and the whole Cabinet. There has been a strong commitment to deal with the problems. We have now been given a deadline to sort out the legal issues and get the ball rolling. There is a general agreement that while the policy issues are being handled Nacosec has to be responsive and agile.

We need an institution fit for purpose. Yes the legal infrastructure has to be right but we should also remember why Nacosec exists in the first place. It is here because of a national crisis. The longer we take to put our house in order the bigger the battle we will face and we might lose it. Indications are that there will be a surge in infections in September. We have to prepare for that time but we cannot do that if we are arguing over legal issues. Time is not on our side.