Lesotho opposition parties that this week won a motion of “no confidence” in the Prime Minister have upped the pressure, calling on the King not take the advice of the Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili to dissolve Parliament.
This is as the government goes on its own crusade, saying the advice of the Prime Minister to the King is binding according to the Constitution.
Lesotho is a country waiting for its King to make a final decision.
The Prime Minister lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament, deepening the political uncertainty in the mountain kingdom .Mosisili has three days to either resign or advise the king to call elections.
This is ahead of a snap election likely within three months. The Prime Minister is expected to advise the King to dissolve Parliament and call for elections.
The opposition wants the King not to carry through the proposal.
“Further, the campaign claims that the Prime Minister’s advice is binding on His Majesty the King. This is false,” says Basotho National Party’s Joang Molapo.
It is unbecoming to threaten His Majesty…
The opposition says His Majesty the King has full discretion to apply his mind and take advice from the Council of State. “While we may understand the government’s desperation to preserve itself in power, it is unbecoming to threaten His Majesty the King that the government is prepared to use other sections of the constitution to override his decisions if he rejects the Prime Minister’s advice or recommendation. Unlike SADC decisions, the Prime Minister’s recommendations are not binding on the King in terms of the Constitution,” says Molapo.
The Constitution also says if within three days the Prime Minister does not resign or advise the King to call elections, he has automatically vacated office. This is the take of the alliance of opposition parties, advised by section 83 of the Kingdom of Lesotho.
The government however, has its own take, based on section 91 of the same Constitution.
It says if the advice is not accepted by the King, the very act can be done by the advising authority – and shall be deemed to have been done by the King and to be his act. The big question is what the king will decide. Click below for more on the story:
– By Nthakoana Ngatane
