The Minister of Finance

Honourable Dr Leketekete Victor Ketso
 
Honourable Leketekete Ketso was born in Leribe on October 28, 1950. He is married with three children.

Honourable Ketso was appointed the Minister of Finance in June 2012. He is the Member of Parliament for Leribe No. 12 representing the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) Political Party.

He holds a Ph.D (ECON) from Dalhousie University in 1988, majoring in Labour Economics and a minor in Regional Development. In 1979, he obtained an M.A (ECON) majoring in Labour Economics and a minor in Regional Economics at the Simon Fraser University (S.F.U). Honourable Ketso enrolled with the National University of Lesotho (NUL) where he obtained a B.A. (ECON), majoring in Economics and Political Science.
 
 Career/Positions/Membership/Other activities

• Minister of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing – 13th October 2010 to 30th May, 2012
• Member of Senate, Lesotho, 16th September, 2010 to 30th May, 2012
• Member of the Governing Board, SADC Organisation of Public Accounts Committees (SADCOPAC), May 2004 – November 2006.
• Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Lesotho Parliament, June 2002 – November, 2006.
• Member of the National Assembly, Lesotho, June 1998 – November 2006
• Member of Senate, Lesotho, June 1996 – May 1998.
• Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Lesotho, June 1996 - July, 1999.
• Senate Representatives, Board of Finance, NUL, September 1991 – August, 1992.
• Member of Council, NUL 1990 – July 1992.
• Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, NUL, June 1990 – July, 1992.
• Acting Head of the Department of Economics, NUL, August – December, 1989.
• Vice Chairman of the Academic Staff Association at NUL, 1980/81
• Vice President of Lesotho University Students Association (LUSA), 1974/75, President of LUSA, May-December, 1975.

CONFERENCES/SEMINARS/WORKSHOPS
 
Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies, University of Guelph, May 1980, Paper presented: “Labour Migration and Economic Development in Lesotho.”

Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies, University of Manitoba, May 1987. Paper Presented: Unemployment Crisis in Lesotho: What are the options?”.

Seminar, Centre for African Studies, Dalhousie University, April 1988. Paper Presented: “The Economic History of Lesotho.

Conference on Post-Apartheid South Africa and its neighbours by Department of Political Science, NUL, Maseru, July 1990. Paper presented: “Basotho Migration in Post Apartheid South Africa”.

Seminar on Lesotho Income Taxation by Centre for Accounting Studies, Maseru 1990. Paper presented: “The Economic Impact of the 1981 Income Tax Law in Lesotho”.

Seminar on the Informal Sector by SAPES/ILO, Harare, April 1991, Paper Presented: “The Informal Sector in Lesotho.”

Workshop by Lesotho Hotels and Hospitality Association, Maseru, June 1993, Paper Presented: “The Economics of Tourism in Lesotho.

ISAS Conference on the Role of the Informal Sector in National Development, Maseru, January, 1993, Paper Presented: “The Informal Sector and Employment Prospects in Lesotho.”

Seminar on Parliamentary Performance and Development by SADC Parliamentary Forum, Maseru, October, 2003, Paper Presented: “The Role of the Budget in Lesotho”.

Conference by SADC Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions, Cape Town, April 2005. Paper Presented: “The Public Accounts Committee in Lesotho: Its Mandate. Functions and Powers.”

Conference of the East and Southern African Association of Accountants General (ESAAG), Maseru, February, 2006. Paper Presented: “The Public Sector Financial Management Reforms in Lesotho and The Challenges they pose for the Public Accounts Committee”.

Workshop for members of Parliament, Lesotho February 9 -19, 2010 Papers Presented: “Budget classification and structures.”“Budget Evaluation and Analysis.”

As a Minister of Finance and Development Planning, he attended and presented country reports in numerous international conferences/workshops and meetings on sound financial management, trade relations, democracy and good governance. He also led many country delegations to SADC, ADB, World Bank, IMF, ACP-EU, WTO and Commonwealth Finance Ministers meetings.

Equally, as a Chairman of Lesotho Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, he attended and made presentation in many conferences of Public Accounts Committees in the SADC Region. These would include, for example, meetings/conferences of South Africa’s Association of Public Accounts Committees (APAC) and those of SADCOPAC.

PUBLICATIONS

“Economics as a Science” in M. Tuoane (ed.), Elements of Economics, Morija Printing Press. 1980.

“Lesotho: The role of Agriculture and Migration”, in Z.A. Konczacki et al (eds), studies in the Economic History of Southern Africa, London, Frankcass, 1991.

“Lesotho’s Labour Migration in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Options and Constraints in S. Santho and M. Sejanamane (eds.), Southern Africa after apartheid; prospects for the inner periphery in the 1990’s. SAPES Trust, 1990.

Ph.D Thesis – Work and the Welfare Costs of Unemployment, 1988.

CONSULTANCIES

Tourism Development Strategy within SADC, for the Tourism Coordinating Unit in Lesotho, September to November, 1990, with J. Muwamba and D. Kaufman.

UNDP’s 5th Country Plan for Lesotho, Resource Person, August, 1991.

The Employment Challenge and Labour Market Trends in Lesotho, for the Ministry of Public Service, Lesotho, July, 1991.

Lesotho’s Employment Challenge: Labour Utilization and Associated Problems, for UNDP, July, 1991.

The Strategy for Employment/Income Generation in Lesotho, for UNDP, April, 1994.Arbitration of the Unsettled Dispute between Security Lesotho and Its Employees, Department of Labour, Lesotho, August, 1995.

Training workshop on Budget preparation and Analysis, for Lesotho Parliamentary Committee on economy and Development, May – June 2009.

On “Review of the Petroleum Products Levies”, for the Department of Energy, Ministry of Natural Resources, Lesotho with KKM and Associates.

EXPERIENCE

• Teaching Assistant (N.U.L), 1976-1977, Teaching Assistant (S.F.U.), Fall 1978 and Spring 1979,
• Lecturer (N.U.L) July 1979 – July 1983. Taught Principles of Economics, Micro and Macro-Economics,
• Regional Development and Labour Economics;
• Teaching Assistant, Dalhousie University, January – April 1986,
• Lecturer, Dalhousie University, September – December 1988, Taught Principles of Economics;
• Lecturer, N.U.L., 1989 – 1996. Taught Micro and Macro-Economics, Econometrics, Regional Development and Labour Economics;
• Lecturer, AERC MSc Programme, Nairobi, July – August 1994. Taught Labour Economics;
• In the years 1980 – 1989 and 1989 – 1990 He also taught part-time at the Institution of Extra Mural Studies (IEMS) and the Institute of Labour Studies (ILS). Courses taught: Principles of Economics and Labour Economics; Senior Lecturer, NUL, 2007 to August, 2010.
• Teaching Labour Economics and micro-economics.