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November 10, 2024
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RFP LOSSES TWO MPS TO OPPOSITION DC

Maseru, May 31 — The main coalition partner in the government, Revolution for Prosperity has lost two Members of Parliament for Lithoteng Constituency Mr. Rethabile Letlailana as well as Malimong legislator Mr. Lephoi Makara.

The duo crossed the floor in the National Assembly on Friday to join the main opposition Democratic Congress (DC).

The Speaker of the National Assembly read two letters from these legislators who stated that after their deep thoughts, they resolved to dump their previous political party RFP to join DC without elaborating.

When approached to say what this mean to both RFP and DC, former long serving Member of Parliament Mr. Sello Maphalla who first came into the parliament as Hlotse legislator in 1995, described it as a great loss to RFP and gain to DC.

He said parliament is all about numbers, adding that even if it was one MP who crossed the floor to join opposition party would be a massive blow to the major ruling party.

Mr. Maphalla said RFP needs enough numbers to pass the reforms bills which were tabled in the National Assembly earlier, saying the loss of two MPs to the opposition DC spells disaster to the coalition government in its bid to pass the reforms ahead of the next SADC Summit in August this year.

He said there could be many reasons for the two RFP legislators to dump the party, saying some of them could be running away from instability within the RFP and looking for peace elsewhere.

Mr. Maphalla explained that some of the RFP members are not satisfied with the way their party is being run, making an example of the fact that election of the party’s National Executive Committee as well as other committees have caused dissatisfaction among other party followers.

He said those who come from the Congress movement in particular are used to their regular elections where they get mandate from their followers, believing that this is not the case within the RFP.

“The Congress movement used to have elected structures starting from the branches and up to the constituencies and they do not compromise that principle in any way,” he commented.

He also said the fact that another coalition partner Basotho Action Party (BAP) has challenges on its own will affect the present coalition government, saying two factions within that party could be a gain to the opposition.

After these two legislators joined DC, it increased their numbers in the National Assembly from 27 to 29 while RFP legislators are down to 54 from 56.

DC had early this month received a boost in its numbers of MPs in the National Assembly after the Sempe MP in Quthing dumped the National Independent Party (NIP) in favour of the main opposition party.

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