I am ashamed: Mpotjoane

As cabinet huddles AfDB president

TEBOHO KHATEBE MOLEFFI and

MOTSAMAI MOKOTJO

MASERU – Cabinet has deliberately thwarted a planned meeting between visiting African Development Bank (AfDB) president, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, with National Assembly portfolio committees’ chairpersons on Monday, this paper can reveal.

Adesina was in Maseru from March 23 to 24 on a working visit upon the invitation of King Letsie III, and while he met with the king and Prime Minister Ntsokoane Matekane he was also taken on a tour of the AfDB-funded project at Ha Maja in Berea.

The AfDB funds key projects in climate change adaptation for sustainable rural water supply, the Lesotho lowlands water and sanitation and the value chain strengthening for sustainable growth projects.

However, Public Eye had learnt from sources within the bank’s head office in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, that the AfDB’s board was considering the freeze of funding for the lowlands water project due to “suspected irregularities relating to finances and mis-procurement” in direct violation of the bank processes.

This paper had further established that coming to Lesotho Adesina had sought to meet stakeholders in the project to, among others, establish the veracity of the claims – including the National Assembly chair of chairpersons, Mokhothu Makhalanyane, and the chairman of the Economic and Development Cluster, Sello Hakane.

While the two legislators were prepared for the Monday meeting, a government itinerary for Adesina’s visit issued the same Monday, did not feature any of the scheduled meetings with Members of Parliament.

It has since emerged that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lejone Mpotjoane, stopped Adesina from meeting the parliamentary committees as initially proposed.

Mpotjoane revealed to Public Eye when asked of the reasons the visiting dignitary failed to meet with the parliament committees that he is the one who informed the AfDB delegation that legislators were busy due to budget allocations.

“I am the one who pulled the plug on the planned meeting. I am the one who informed the AfDB that the National Assembly is currently preoccupied with budget allocations, therefore the meeting would have to fall through.

I was also meant to have had a meeting with the President Adesina, unfortunately that too failed to materialise,” Mpotjoane explained.

Pressed to indicate why he, as just a legislator and a cabinet minister not responsible in any way for the business of the House and its schedule, the minister simply said, “I am ashamed of that…!”

Following these developments, the economic cluster chairperson, Hakane, has come out guns blazing against “individuals who informed the delegation of the AfDB president that I am too busy to honour the meeting with them.”

The meeting, according to Hakane, was also meant to be attended by Makhalanyane, indicating that he deserved an explanation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We didn’t meet with the AfDB. We came to learn later that meeting was cancelled because we are ‘too busy.’ I need to know the person who told the team that I am busy.

I am the one who knows my schedule. I was told by the Chair of Chairs that he too was informed that we have a tight schedule, which doesn’t make sense to me,” an irate Hakane told Public Eye.

An incensed Makhalanyane was rendered speechless by the cabinet decision too, but observed that he doesn’t expect such conduct from the executive.

“This is irresponsible and unruly behaviour, and can only be construed to highlight the fact that these people don’t want to account and be held responsible for their decisions as cabinet. Why sabotage a meeting meant to interrogate their decisions?” he pondered.

Makhalanyane revealed that this deception by the executive is common, indicating that “it’s not the first time something like this happens. Recently, I was supposed to meet a European Union diplomat who was told that I am too busy to meet and the meeting failed.”

“To the diplomat’s surprise, after four weeks of his presence in the country and his being told of my unavailability due to work commitments, we met and he asked only for five minutes of my time, but we ended up having a meeting for hours,” Makhalanyane said.

Both legislators had, last week, confirmed information obtained by this paper relating to the Monday meeting and its agenda.

Speaking in a separate interview, ruling Revolutionary for Prosperity legislator, Dr Tšeliso Moroke, indicated that it was unreasonable for the cabinet to side-line the legislature in meetings with international dignitaries as “we play an oversight role.”

“I don’t really know the benefit of visits such as the AfDB’s or what they bring to the country, especially to the common Mosotho. But it remains astonishing that parliament was snubbed when Asedina was here,” Dr Moroke, who is also the Matala constituency Member of Parliament, told this publication.

United for Change representative in the National Assembly, Mohlominyane Tota, is also stunned by this stunt by cabinet, insisting that government was afraid of accounting thus they snubbed the august House.

“They are hiding something. They knew that the two chairpersons were going to reveal damaging information about government’s failure to account, especially to parliament that has an oversight role.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs has some explanation to do, Mpotjoane should indicate what happened here,” Tota said.

Public Eye has been made to understand that among other points of interest that were meant to form part of discussions in this botched meeting was the contentious issue of Lesotho Standards Institution (LSI) in which government had asked for over M200 million in funding from the bank.

The bank has thus far shown discomfort over procurement and regulatory frameworks surrounding this LSI project, which are seemingly being flouted by the trade ministry, and Makhalanyane and Hakane have raised this issue several times speaking to this paper.