After the coup attempts in 2014, Lesotho is seeking to amend its constitution again. With key constitutional reforms underway, a process that debuted about a decade ago, civil society groups argue the country needs an entire new constitution.
Lesotho is again working on key constitutional reforms, seeking to bring order to the mountain kingdom’s divided politics, as it is fractious as the government and part of civil society disagree on how to go about the reforms.
Last week, Law and Justice Minister Richard Ramoeletsi introduced the long-awaited Tenth Amendment to the Constitution Bill and the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution Bill that the government of then Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro failed to pass ahead of 2022 elections. While the government wants to amend the existing constitution, some civil society organizations want to write a new one.
The Transformation Resource Centre (TRC), a legal civic group, recently accused the government of continued misdirection against sound counsel and advisory to its political leadership on astute principles of engagement in constitutionally legitimate reform procedures due to the fact that the Bills were « dismemberments of the constitution’s original design ».
The TRC argues the government had not learnt from its past mistakes and that flaws and mishaps have resulted in a litany of litigated cases and structural pushbacks, adding that Lesotho cannot afford incremental changes to its constitution.
