The relation between Lesotho’s local government and central government continues to come under scrutiny, for the wrong reasons.
The ministry of energy says it aims to electrify every household in the country by 2030. The current electrification rate stands at 52.
However, what is disturbing about this plan is the non-inclusion of local authorities.
As things stand, there are those who believe local governments, although operating in accordance with laws legislated by the central government, are supposed to be more powerful at local level than the central government. This has been a subject of never-ending debate.
A local law scholar captured it adequately last year when he wrote:
In February 2014 the Government of Lesotho adopted the National Decentralisation Policy with the aim of deepening and sustaining grassroots-based democratic governance and promoting equitable local development by enhancing citizen participation and strengthening the local government system, while maintaining effective functional and mutually accountable linkages between central and local government entities.
Specifically, the policy provides for the following key strategic reform actions: adoption of devolution as the model of decentralised governance and service delivery; establishment of local governments with autonomy and executive authority development and implementation of the strategic framework for participatory and integrated planning; establishment of fiscal decentralisation and prudent public financial management; development of a framework for exercising local autonomy and intergovernmental relations (Government of Lesotho 2014).
The policy introduces a set of decentralisation reforms based on devolution. Whether devolution is an appropriate model for Lesotho as a unitary state remains to be seen, but what is clear about the new decentralisation policy is that it proposes a decentralisation dispensation where there is mutual respect between spheres of government and local autonomy.
About nine principles are upheld by the policy with a view to envisage a much more autonomous local government. Those principles are participation, subsidiarity, separation of powers, local autonomy, non-subordination, government as a single system or entity, recognising diversity within uniformity, inclusive governance and accountability.
