More and more details are seeping through, of the magnitude of malpractices at the now defunct National Emergency Command Centre which was entrusted the responsibility of coordinating efforts to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.
These basically suggest that the Thomas Thabane-led government’s M700million emergency health procurement budget had indeed become a cadres’ feast. Evidence has since been mounting that points to the entire value chain of state procurement, from food to protective health equipment and other goods and services, having been compromised by overpricing, cronyism and other forms of tender shenanigans.
It has in the process come to light, that the connected and the greedy are not letting the trifling matter of a horrendous pandemic come between them and the trough and that happens at the expense of the lives of the nation.
On the ground, the numbers of infected people are growing astronomically; sadly, some of them are succumbing while others are getting rich from the public funds.
What has become of us? Shall we ever be a nation that cares for one another and shares in the pain of others?
When politicians are accusing each other of corruption, and not discussing how to punish corruption, it means they are normalising corruption, and they do not anymore see anything wrong with it.
Corruption as an ethical transgression is more difficult to prosecute, as against an ordinary crime like fraud or theft.
We all know that that the government of Lesotho has for ages been accused of lacking the political will to fight corruption. We appeal to the govern to do the right thing, for once and take decisive action against all Covid-19 funds looters.
