Maseru — The Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) Board of Directors and executive management have failed to appear before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), prompting the committee to initiate formal summons proceedings against them.
The no-show, described by PAC insiders as a “defiant act of contempt,” has heightened tensions between the state-owned investment agency and Parliament. The committee had invited LNDC to explain glaring financial irregularities and alleged governance failures, including questionable investments, procurement anomalies, and millions in unaccounted expenditure.
According to PAC sources, the committee had been expecting LNDC’s board chairperson and senior executives to appear for questioning earlier today. Instead, LNDC reportedly sent no official apology or explanation for their absence.
“This is not a request, it is an obligation,” one senior PAC member told Lesotho Tribune. “Public entities funded by taxpayers are answerable to Parliament. When they choose to ignore that duty, the law must compel them.”
The committee has now directed its legal officer to draft summons compelling both the LNDC Board and management to appear before it at the next sitting. The PAC is expected to deliberate on whether contempt proceedings may follow if they continue to disregard parliamentary oversight.
This development comes at a time when the LNDC is under intense public scrutiny for alleged political interference, governance lapses, and financial mismanagement. The fallout could expose deeper fractures in the relationship between Parliament and key state-owned enterprises, many of which have resisted accountability measures in recent months.
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