Democratic Government Without the People: The Case of Lesotho After 2015 General Elections

Abstract

The government of Lesotho has under gone many phases since its independence in 1966. Lesotho has had series of problems especially after every election. After 1970 there was a declaration of state of emergency. In 1985,BNPwon all the constituencies because they were not contested. Since 1993 the government has been advocating for a democratic government in which people would have a say.Finer (1970) maintains that, democratic government is where people periodically elect persons who are supposed to represent their opinion in a central law making body. It is precisely because democracy, both historically and logically, implies and involves majority rule (Finer, 1970:63). The paper seeks to establish that after the elections of February 2015 in Lesotho the government that is the cabinet; was made up of members of parliament who do not have the majority of people where they were elected, that is, from their constituencies. The paper assesses whether government will be accountable to the nation even if it does not have majority of people behind them.Will thecabinet be accountableto the electorates or to the prime minister who has appointed them to the ministerial positions,even though they do not have the followers or whether the cabinet will be a representative body to the citizens?The findings revealed that the ministers were responsible to the Prime Minister rather than to the people, and as such, that kind of cabinet was undermining the tenets of democracy. It was also revealed that the electoral model of the country should be reviewed because it seemed to have an influence in having such a cabinet and it leads to coalition governments.

Keywords: Accountability, Democracy, Cabinet, Government, Good Governance, Parties, Ministries.