Madam Speaker

Honourable Members

My Countrymen 

May I once again crave your indulgence and prevail upon you to allow me a few minutes of your precious time to brief you on Commonwealth Day.

The purpose of this brief is to promote awareness of and support for the Commonwealth; to highlight the close relations between Lesotho and the Commonwealth; and to cite the benefits that accrue to Lesotho for being part of the Commonwealth family.

Commonwealth Day falls on the second Monday of March every year.  Each year a theme is chosen to encourage people in the 53 countries of the Commonwealth to focus on an aspect of common interest on Commonwealth Day, wherever they are.  This year’s theme is “Health Vitality: the Commonwealth Challenge”.    Quite pertinent indeed!

As we celebrate Commonwealth Day, we salute Lesotho’s membership of the Commonwealth family of nations. We celebrate our shared values, our commitment to peace, democracy and human rights,  as well as our determination to cooperate with each other in a spirit of solidarity.

This year in particular, we pay special attention to the virtues of health and vitality.  We recognize the importance of food security in our communities.  Our nations are stronger when there is access to good food, clean water and healthy living conditions.  It is in all our interest to strive for the highest possible standards for all our people,  particularly in the face of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. 

Madam Speaker, 

It is now forty years since Lesotho joined the Commonwealth.  Today, as we celebrate Commonwealth Day, we renew our commitment to this great organization. Membership of the Commonwealth enhances our reputation around the world as it brings a collective dimension to our global interests. 

We in Lesotho feel stronger knowing that, through the Commonwealth, we are connected to 52 other nations with which we share a working language, certain fundamental values and principles, similar institutions and a joint commitment to build peace and deliver prosperity to all our people.  We know that the Commonwealth is a trusted partner and welcome its style of global

diplomacy, which uses the power of consensus to make multilateralism work.  There is no other forum where we can speak

openly about the needs of our citizens or sit at the negotiating table on the basis of equality.  At the Commonwealth table, all voices are heard and no one is left out in the cold. 

Over the years, we have greatly benefited from being part of the Commonwealth network and feel stronger knowing that we will continue to do so in the future.  We have enjoyed cordial relations with the organization.  Worthy of note is the fact that Lesotho was appointed to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) on the Harare Declaration at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2003.  The CMAG is mandated to deal with serious and persistent violations of the 1991 Harare Commonwealth Declaration.  The Group is required to assess the nature of the infringement and make recommendations for collective action.  Thus, Lesotho has, alongside other members of the CMAG, been entrusted with a very demanding task, to deal with hot-spots like Pakistan, Fiji, Western Samoa and Zimbabwe (whilst she was still a member of the Commonwealth).

Lesotho’s  membership of  the  CMAG has  since  been  renewed at  the  last  CHOGM  held  in  Valletta,  Malta, last  year.  Lesotho serves in this Group with Canada, Malaysia, Malta, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, St Lucia, Tanzania and the United Kingdom.

Madam Speaker,

Honourable Members will also recall that the Commonwealth played an important role, giving valuable support and assistance in our recent turbulent political past. Together with other like-minded organizations, the Commonwealth played midwife to the difficult negotiations that gave birth to our Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) electoral model.  Moreover, the Commonwealth has been a strong pillar of support for our democratic process by sending election observer missions to Lesotho since our first democratic elections in 1993.  The value of international observer missions cannot be over-emphasized as they lend credibility to an election process and the resultant government.  As such observer missions do NOT  have a vested interest in who wins the elections but in the electoral process itself, they are best suited to judge whether or not the elections are free, fair, transparent, and truly reflect the will of the electorate.  We take this opportunity to commend the Commonwealth for this role, and for providing invaluable advice and guidance to our Independent Electoral Commission and all stakeholders to ensure that the electorate exercise their democratic rights freely.

Furthermore, Lesotho continues to benefit, in more ways than one, from the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC).  The following are a few examples of programmes that have received support from the CFTC:

·       Strengthening of the capacity of the Research Department at the Central Bank of Lesotho to facilitate collection and analysis of financial and balance of payments statistics and to manage the database of national accounts for macroeconomic forecasting and policy analysis;

·       Support for the recording and sustainable management of Lesotho’s debt, including the provision of debt management software;

·       Support for human resource development through training of about 335 Basotho, over the last five years, in identified

priority areas of need through both in-country and pan-Commonwealth training  programmes;

·       Provision of a Trade Policy analyst under a joint project with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the European Community to increase effective participation of ACP countries in international trade negotiations and reinforce their capacity to formulate trade policy;

·       Provision of a Director for the Lesotho College of Education to strengthen the management of the college and improve academic programmes.  Distance education programmes have also been developed to improve the quality of under- qualified and unqualified teachers, especially in rural areas;

·       Provision of an Adviser on computerization to the National Manpower Development Secretariat to improve the efficiency of its operations;

·       Provision of a Computer Adviser for the Department of Immigration and Passports;

·       Provision of a Director of Audit (Parastatals) to strengthen the capacity of the Audit Department and ensure timely production and issue of audit reports;

·       Provision of an Adviser to the IEC to advise on the legal and administrative arrangements for registration and other issues pertaining to elections.

Therefore, Madam Speaker and Honourable Members, as we celebrate Commonwealth Day 2006,  let us cherish this valuable partnership and rededicate ourselves to the association and to the values and principles it represents.  As a small developing or least- developed country, the best insurance for our continued existence and viability lies in multilateralism and membership in organizations such as the Commonwealth.  Long live the Commonwealth! 

Khotso!   Pula!   Nala!