MASERU – NEARLY all parties registered with IEC have not accounted for the monies they received during the 2015 Local Government Elections, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard on Monday.
It is only Baena, a pro-Christianity party led by Pastor Paul Masiu, which accounted for all the funds it received from the IEC.
All the political parties registered with the IEC were before the committee to account how they disbursed the money allocated to them.
The total amount of M12 million is the money that IEC is expecting the parties to account for. IEC told the PAC chairman Selibe Mochoboroane that the parties never reported how they have used the funds. IEC gives registered parties money for campaign. It emerged during the hearing that almost all the parties had weak financial systems.
The committee was stunned to hear that the ABC has failed to account for a whopping M1 million. ABC Secretary General Samonyane Ntsekele accepted that the party failed to account. “We were unable to account for that money because the clearing papers were taken by the party agents and they never returned them. And without those papers we could not be able to account for that money unless we get those papers back, Ntsekele said.
Ntsekele promised that the party will account for every penny it received. “In two weeks’ time we would work hard and make sure that we solve the problem and account for that money, he said.
The Alliance of Democrats (AD) did not account for M945 000. AD Secretary General Seeta Griffiths told the committee that they are working hard to account for the funds. The committee also heard that the African Unity Movement (AUM) did not account for M94 000 allocated to it by the IEC.
AUM Secretary General Malefetsane Thabaneng said he was not in the office at that time and he only got to know when he wanted campaign funding from the IEC. He said he was told that they did not account for 2017.
The Basotho National Party (BNP) was also grilled for M495 000 it received. BNP Secretary General Seeiso Moshoeshoe said he was not aware that they did not account for the money because he was not in the office at that time. He said he assumed duties as the secretary general in late 2015 and his predecessors are the ones who have not accounted for that money.
“I did not have all information about that money but I only knew it by the time I wanted campaigning funds. This was when the IEC told me that we still did not account for the 2015 elections funds,” Moshoeshoe said. He said at that time they did not tell him how much they were supposed to account for so he was unable to account for the amount he did not know.
The chairperson Selibe Mochoboroane said it is wrong that as leaders they cannot lead by example, they are the ones and most people to show people a way, mostly when it comes to the funds of the government.
Thooe Ramolibeli