Our MPs are flying blind

…The price of a research-free parliament

RANTAU TLALI MAKHETHA

“Parliamentarism – the principle of parliamentary oversight and the election of government through elections to the legislature – was considered crucial. The system also included significant checks and balances, especially through the strong position given to the Constitutional Court,” Harald W Mathisen Elling N Tjønneland wrote in Does Parliament Matter in New Democracies? The Case of South Africa 1994-2000

Yet in 2025, Lesotho’s Members of Parliament (MPs) don’t have researchers; they are stuck with constituency secretaries who just receive and send letters.

I have nothing against secretaries, but in an era where MPs are required to read, surely researchers should be a priority. Legislators need to legislate and table Private Members Bills as has been afforded according to Standing Order #52 (1).

The quality of reports from various committees shows that there’s a lack of paying attention to detail, and the line of questioning when ministers and civil servants are summoned is astounding.

“Members of Parliament need access to up-to-date and accurate information and expertise in order to perform their parliamentary duties, whether as individual representatives or as members of committees, delegations, or other groups,” Global Partners Governance’s Guide to Parliament reads, while adding, “Parliamentarians have to propose and take views on legislation covering an enormous range of issues; they are called upon to scrutinize the wide-ranging work of governments; and they are expected to comment on issues and problems of concern to the citizens they represent, often at short notice. 

It continues: “No Member of Parliament, however, can be expected to be an expert on every subject on which he or she may need to take a view.”

I know a lot of legislators who cry foul about the quality of reports they produce, which lack depth and a train of thought.

This country deserves better! Across the Mohokare River, our neighbors, via their political parties, have hired researchers who assist in terms of legislation and implications thereof.

It allows us to critique laws based on substance and question those before committees in a vigorous and informed manner.

We need informed and innovative lawmakers. It’s only possible when researchers have been engaged.

Dr Vicky Ward and Dr Mark Monaghan, in Mapping and Connecting Parliamentary Research Services Around the World, argue and put emphasis on the need to have researchers in Parliament.

 “Research evidence has an important role to play in the work of parliaments as they scrutinize, debate, and pass legislation,” they note.  

Having researchers shouldn’t equate to having lazy legislators who fail to grasp basic issues related to laws they intend to enact.

It requires MPs who attend sessions; it’s very unfortunate the National Assembly Speaker, Tlohang Sekhamane always laments the bunking of work by our esteemed honourables.

Mr Speaker, here’s a piece of advice: Standing Order #3 (1) and (2), which deal with the quorum in the House. 

“Unless leave has been granted or an apology made and accepted in terms of paragraphs (2) or (3). (2) If a member wishes to be absent from sittings or meetings mentioned in paragraph (1), he or she shall obtain leave from the Speaker. (3) The Speaker may grant a member leave of absence in accordance with the leave policy of the House,” Standing Order #4 notes.

There’s also Parliament’s Ethics Committee, which has been in slumber and should be taking urgent measures to reprimand ne’er-do-well legislators, veiled as MPs earning salaries without putting in the work.

One hopes that the funds being mulled by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to capacitate Parliament, among other institutions, come to fruition, as per Chairperson of Portfolio Chairpersons Mokhothu Makhalanyane in an interview with Public Eye a few weeks ago.

I subscribe to the notion that research is of importance to our legislators being equipped with the requisite skills to conduct oversight roles, which is one of their mandates.