By Neo Kolane
The Prime Minister Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane has been designated to lead the fight against corruption during the Anti-Corruption day on Friday last week in Maseru.
This was disclosed by the director for Public Education and Corruption Prevention at The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) Litelu Ramokhoro, as he set the record straight following the controversy sparked by news that Matekane had been honoured by DCEO as a champion in the fight against corruption.
Litelu said Matekane was presented with a gift which is a symbol to constantly remind him of his duty of helping Basotho curb corruption.
Ramakhoro told theReporter that this is something the DCEO has never done before, and their expectation is the Matekane will perform this task within the five years of his tenure in office.
“As DCEO we are committing Matekane way beyond his manifesto. We want him to prove that he is the prime minister of the country, and to stabilize it.
“He will lead from the front and support institutions that are meant to curb crime in Lesotho like the DCEO,” Ramokhoro said.
Lesotho ranks 38th on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index which lists countries according to how they are perceived to be corrupt.
Earlier this year, the leader of the Movement for Economic Change party – which is a member of the ruling three-party coalition – Selibe Mochoboroane said according to the 2021 report, Lesotho is in the red zone among the most corrupt countries in the world. This means that Lesotho is classified among highly corrupt countries.
“It is not only the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index that identified Lesotho as a corrupt country. Even the Public Accounts Committee in its report during my tenure as chair of the committee between 2018/19) noted that at least M2 billion cannot be accounted for as a result of corruption.
“The Auditor General’s report for the 2019/20 financial year also revealed that there was M3 billion in public funds that could not be traced. Those are undeniable signs of corruption. It says we are a corrupt nation with a corrupt government and are in desperate need of remedies to curb the corruption,” Mochoboroane said.
