News that persons in the employ of the Lesotho Communications Authority-the national regulator for telecommunications including broadcast-are conflicted in respect of where their money is, might surprise some but not all of us.
It is gradually becoming something of a norm for skewed deals, or happenstances that are downright untoward, to be passed off as though they are nothing or that nothing is amiss.
Most of the practices that are supposed to be in regard of the law seem as though are meant for the ordinary folk or man in the street and not the rank and file in the elitist seats.
A couple of years ago, Pakalitha Mosisili, the Rt Hon Prime Minister-as he then was, had publicly declared how corruption had reached unprecedented levels and sky-rocketed, more so in his office.
The revelation had come amidst news that staff at the premier’s office were inflating prices so bad that a mere 1leter of soda cost somewhere in the range of around M 100.
That has been the story of corruption in this great nation.
And it has gotten worse with each new national administration after him to where we are today.
Ideally, the LCA, a statutory body established by an Act of parliament, is supposed to be autonomous in its operations in order to faithfully discharge its mandate. However, as it now appears, it is skewed in make thus casting doubts to the ordinary man about its credibility.
Last year when news of its fray with Vodacom Lesotho first surfaced, it was always apparent that there was something untoward, although at the time one could not make out what it may have been.
Be that as it may, the picture depicted by staffers of the LCA who are shareholders of Vodacom is epitome of the kind of society Basotho have in latter times become. We have degenerated into a shamelessly impetuous and corrupt lot. There is not an iota of shame in those entrusted with holding public office if and when they do so without observing the asks of their office.
While it might be true that the 31% of LCA staffers are still Basotho who deserve opportunities of self-advancement, it is equally true that it is quite incredible that ‘coincidentally’ they work for the same entity that regulates their company.
If this is not conflict of interest at the highest order, one can truly never fathom what is.
