By: Thoboloko Ntšonyane
Maseru – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has committed $500,000 (estimated M9 million) for the 2024 and 2025 period to strengthen parliamentary efficacy, inclusive of its reforms.
This was announced during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UNDP and the two houses of Parliament, the Senate and the National Assembly last week.
Parliament is identified as one of the seven key areas designated for reforms.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Speaker of the National Assembly Rt Hon. Tlohang Sekhamane says the partnership aims to strengthen legislative, oversight, advocacy, and representative functions, as well as parliamentary administration, a move towards enhancing the effectiveness of parliament.
UNDP was approached in request for support towards the parliament to continue the reforms process, effectively and quickly. He underlined that the legislators are supposed to perform the parliamentary duties for the benefit of people and are in line with the good governance and the rule of law in the kingdom.
For her part, the UNDP Resident Representative, Dr. Jaqueline Olweya remarked that the UNDP is dedicated to supporting the parliament as it recognises its critical role in democracy.
Dr. Olweya said the UNDP has been supporting the national reforms jointly with funding from the European Union. She said they have also supported the institutional gap assessment of key governance institutions such as the executive, parliament, the judiciary and other key governance institutions.
The UNDP Resident Representative agrees that the parliament is a key partner that needed support, and through this partnership it will be assisted to perform its four core functions more effectively.
“And we are doing this through different modalities, capacity development, not only of the two Houses, but also of the staff that work in those institutions. It could be the administrative staff, it could be the clerical staff, it could be the technical staff, the legal drafters, for instance. So it is capacity development of the institutions in totality of the two Houses of parliament. It involves supporting them to review their working modalities, their codes of conduct, their functioning, their standing orders, how they work, and so on.
“It includes international exposure so that Lesotho’s parliament can learn from other parliaments in the region and beyond on their experiences and bring back that to contextualize it to the country’s context. It could be in issues about strengthening their independence. We are aware that the government has three arms, parliament is one of those and each of those arms is supposed to be independent. So our support will be how do we support parliament to exercise its core functions, but also do so in an effective and efficient manner,” she said, adding that based on the lessons to be learned during this initial two years period, UNDP will be able to respond appropriately.
It is expected that this partnership between UNDP and the parliament will strengthen legislation through promoting inclusive policies and representation for women and youth.
The partnership between UNDP and Parliament strengthens legislation and advocacy efforts, directly benefiting women and youth by promoting inclusive policies and representation. This collaboration ensures that the voices and needs of these groups are prioritized in national development agendas.
Appreciating the gesture on behalf of the parliament, the President of the Senate, Hon ‘Mamonaheng Mokitimi expressed gratitude to the UNDP and the entire United Nations (UN) family traversing the journey with the parliament.
“You stood by our side, encouraging us persistently to get up and soldier on, what a loyal and faithful partner we have in you. You kept reminding us that we are here for us to go and not for ourselves. Today marks a significant milestone in our journey.
“This Memorandum of Understanding represents not just formal agreement, but a profound partnership rooted in shared values and common vision for a better future for us. The support extended to Parliament will play a crucial role in enabling parliament to implement impactful programmes that will drive positive change and uplift the lives of our citizens,” she said.