MASERU
Two leaders from the opposition, Machesetsa Mofomobe, leader of Basotho National Party (BNP) and Democratic Congress (DC) leader Mathibeli Mokhothu said as opposition they accept the court’s judgment.
“We are bound by law to accept the verdict of the court as it came out even if it agree or disagree with our opinions. Out of five judges , two said that this parliament has power to make amendments to the constitution , while three said that the parliament was wrong that it took power that is not its own and now the prime minister has no power,” said Mofomobe.
He added that this judgment may in some way puts the reforms in jeopardy especially because the power of the constitution is being challenged. Looking at some parts of the reforms and you see that the prime minister has lost his power,” said Mofomobe.
In conclusion Mofomobe said according to him the basic structure will be unstable, if each time reforms are made, every single person who decides to come forward and complain that parts of reforms are shaking the basic structure will be allowed to do so. “In other words, we may say that this judgement puts us in a constitutional crisis,” said Mofomobe.
On the other hand, Mathibeli Mokhothu said, “I heard two things that I believe Basotho also deserve to hear and understand well. The first issue is that the three judges said that this ninth amendment interfered with the structure of the government of Lesotho especially based on the clause which states that Lesotho will be an independent country governed by the rule of the people by the people.”
He said, the trio who agree that this amendment was taking away the prime ministers power, and in that form they consider that taking away the prime ministers power, the same prime minister born by the parliament. Mokhothu said it is known that in Lesotho for one to be a prime minister, they have to be elected by parliamentarians not the public.
“The most important thing that the people have to think about very hard is the fact that in Lesotho, the prime minister is not elected by the people, he is elected by the parliamentarians and they elect him with a simple majority that is 50+1 because parliament is formed by 120 people, so it is said that 61 appoints the prime minister and in the same way 61 can remove the prime minister but it is unfortunate that the person appointed by the parliamentarians, when these parliamentarians eliminate him, the same prime minister chooses to dissolve this parliament,” said Mokhothu.
Moreover, he said it means that now, if they had not made this ninth amendment, prime minister Ntsokoane Matekane would have dissolved the parliament with only nine months in power, and Basotho were going to go for elections, spending the amount close to 400 million , meaning that another 400 million would have been spent after just nine months.
He said, “And while we are doing that, more and more prime ministers are going to be elected, increasing the number of prime minister that are going to be paid by the government through the public taxes as retired prime ministers.” Mokhothu said in a long run will burden this Lesotho.
M0khothu said, “Another very important thing that we must know is that Lesotho uses something called indirect democracy which is representative democracy which I heard this court and these judges say nothing about which is the fundamental essential principle for us.”
He further said we are elected by the people, to get to parliament because we are under something called the Westminster model that is the parliamentary model, parliamentary democracy. “Now the parliamentarians elect the prime minister, so the prime minister is an animal of the parliamentarians who must discipline him,” said Mokhothu.
Moreover, he stated that people discipline the prime minister once in five years when his party returns to the polls, but the parliamentarians are trusted by the public to put an eye on the prime minister every day. Mokhothu emphasized that when parliamentarians see that the prime minister is going astray they should remove him. “Now these judges do not want to face the political reality that the Lesotho use what is called indirect democracy and representative democracy which means appointing and removing the prime minister in this country is really up to the parliamentarians in their majority,” said Mokhothu.
This the two leaders said after the Court of Appealdeclared that the Ninth Amendment undermined the principles of democracy and violates the basic structure of the constitution.
The amendment, which detached the prime minister’s power to advise the king to dissolve parliament in the face of a vote of no confidence, was passed during the last parliament.
The Court of Appeal President, Justice Kananelo Mosito, and other two judges, Justices Phillip Musonda and Petrus Damaseb, discovered that the amendment undermines the basic structure of the Constitution and should be declared unconstitutional.
However, Justices Moses Chinhengo and Johann van der Westhuizen disagreed. Justice Mosito said he was concerned over the amendment’s impact on the democratic process and the role of the electorate in choosing their government.
