By Sebabatso Rannyama
MASERU
The Prime Minister (PM) Dr Moeketsi Majoro has disclosed that the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (PMDU) will, through the help of the World Bank, intensify efforts to support Private Sector Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion Project in the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2022.
He said this reflecting on the 17th annual private sector consultative meeting report whereby he reported on the annual achievements of the Public Private Dialogue (PPD) aimed to facilitate removal of obstacles to investment in Lesotho.
When addressing the participants Majoro indicated that the PPD encores on the need to deliver commitments and build an accountability process in the delivery unit. He reported that the PMDU facilitated Private Sector consultative meetings in the districts. “The main objective of the district consultative meetings was to identify challenges faced by the private sector in accessing the government’s services, the meetings also dealt with administrative and regulatory constraints to investment and those meetings were held in Butha -Buthe, Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek, Thaba-Tseka and Quthing,” he explained.
The PM thus noted that to counter financial challenges that were raised during the meetings, the government has decided to shift more effort towards improvement of the Private Sector Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion Project.
He said they had earlier supported the Youth Interim Task Team in the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation with reparations for the Youth Employment Summit, which is intended to improve youth employability through inter alia, strengthening of the entrepreneurship ecosystem; development of integrated entrepreneurship curriculum and relevant training programs to address skills mismatch and implementation of a national apprenticeship programme.
Dr Majoro said the government is committed to continue with these meetings, urging both the public and private sector to ensure that these meetings serve their intended purpose and they become a permanent aspect of the government’s strategy to engage the stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Head of PMDU Chaba Mokuku explained that the PPD started in April 2021. He said Delivery Units must work towards the coherent national division. “In our case, one may argue that our coherent national division is the National Strategic Development Plan II (NSDP) which is the blue print for sustainable social economic development of this country. This can only happen through a meaningful and genuine dialog through the public and private sector,” he informed.
One of the participants from the Youth Interim Task Team Coordinator Phetho Matla suggested that ministries may improve or ease the communication mechanism between the government and the public. Matla specifically noted that youth are trying so hard to get their businesses registered, saying it is too expensive for them to get licenses. “We request the Ministry of Trade and Industries to reduce business registration fees,” he said.