New PM vows to tackle poverty in Lesotho
NEW Lesotho Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro has vowed to hit the ground running and start by tackling hunger and poverty in the volatile tiny mountain kingdom.
The 58-year-old economist was sworn in yesterday after replacing Tom Thabane, who was pressured to step down on Tuesday months after police named him and his current wife as suspects in the murder of his estranged wife.
Majoro, who previously worked as an executive director at one of the International Monetary Fund’s offices in Africa and as finance minister, has promised to usher-in “a new version” of leadership and “bring back their (people’s) trust to the government.”
Apart from tackling Covid-19 – Lesotho has recorded only one case so far – he also pledged to make poverty, hunger and unemployment his main priorities.
“We don’t have much time on our side. We only have two years left before the elections yet there is a lot of work ahead of us,” he said after being sworn-in by King Letsie III at the royal palace in Maseru.
“Fifty-four years after independence, the scourge of hunger and poverty is a serious issue in this country and we need to deal with this issue decisively,” he said.
Majoro, who was first appointed to the cabinet by Thabane in 2013, will serve out his predecessor’s remaining term before the elections in 2022.
Thabane attended the swearing-in ceremony and handed Majoro a copy of the kingdom’s constitution to formally signal the transfer of power. The two tapped elbows instead of shaking hands as a precaution against the coronavirus.
Thabane’s current wife, Maesaiah Thabane, did not attend the event. The former PM’s estranged wife, Lipolelo, was shot and killed while driving home in 2017, two days before Thabane was to be inaugurated. At the time, the two were going through a bitter divorce and had been living apart since 2012. Maesaiah, who was living with Thabane at the time of the murder, was charged over the killing.
Although he has been accused of conspiring in the murder, Thabane has not yet been formally charged, with his lawyer previously arguing that his position as prime minister granted him immunity from prosecution. The couple have denied any involvement.
In what seemed like a moment of reckoning, Thabane apologised for his blemishes during his second stint as prime minister, which lasted just under three years.
“In as much as I tried my level best to serve His Majesty and Basotho (people) with dedication and loyalty… I may have inadvertently erred in several ways during my tenure… Consequently, I sincerely wish to ask you to forgive me for my mistakes,” he said.
The scourge of hunger and poverty is a serious issue in this country MOEKETSI MAJORO
LESOTHO PM