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ELIMINATION OF STANDALONE SYSTEMS IMPROVES SERVICE DELIVERY

Elimination of standalone systems within the government agencies and private sector will enhance the improved provision of services and attract more investors to make business in the country.
This emanated from the Eleventh Private Sector Consultative Meeting organized by the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (PMDU), under the theme ‘Cutting Red Tape for Business in Lesotho’.
In his presentation at this meeting, Mr. Ntsane Mafereka from the Land Administration Authority (LAA) in the Department of Information and Technology (IT) said the introduction of land administration reforms that include Land Information Systems, Integrated Geographic System and Online Customer Self-Service improved land management services.
Another system introduced was Payment Gateway for instant payment and EFT payment.
He said introducing these systems benefitted their customers as moving the bottlenecks and duplicate so to shorten time takes us to land surveys, customer can submit applications online and make an online payment, saying with the advent of COVID-19 pandemic, this is more needed as it eliminates human interaction.
Mr. Mafereka however said much needs to be done to ensure continuity of improved services to customers, saying maintenance of developed systems is critical with regard to support of licensing and digitalizing of records from manual.
He added that LAA has proposed coordination with stakeholders like MCC to have one system, which can be shared and collaborated using this platform.
Another presentation was by the Deputy Registrar of Companies from the department of One-Stop Business Facilitation Centre (OBFC) in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Adv. Florence Motoa.  She stated that OBFC is mandated to promote investment through efficient and effective trade facilitation services such as company registration, company licensing, issuing of work and resident permits for manufacturers to mention a few.
Adv. Motoa mentioned that the introduction of this department (OBFC) in 2009 and automation of services contributed to Lesotho climbing the Ease of Doing Business Indicators on registering a business to 84 out of 190 economies in 2020. Thereby ranking higher than Botswana (159), Namibia (165) and South Africa (139). The reforms included the elimination of some unnecessary procedures in registering a company such as proof of capital and the use of a legal practitioner to register a company.
She noted that elimination of these procedures created a simple, affordable, and easy way of doing business in the country hence a higher ranking was attained.
Stakeholders such as the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA), Ministry of Labour and Employment, and Ministry of Home Affairs are central to the work with OBFC. She however noted that some of these stakeholders still work manually while there is no proper communication for those automated. she commented that this has caused some disruptions in the provision of some services as the manual system is subject to manipulation and human error.
Adv. Motoa, therefore, urged that there is a need to bring all commercial registration under one roof to improve service delivery in the country. This should cover registration of trusts, intellectual property, insolvency and business rescue services.
The questions and answer session involved participants making interventions on the importance of cutting off the red tape in Lesotho. The Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr Maluke Letete indicated that, the government digitization transformation strategy is envisaged to be launched in November as this will improve service delivery through service integration.
He added that e-services are due to be introduced and the Lesotho Government Portal will be functioning actively. Dr Letete added that 48 telecommunication towers will be constructed countrywide to improve access to telecommunication services.
The Managing Director of the Computer Business Solution (CBS), Dr Mohlalefi Sefika announced the registration and incorporation of the Lesotho Information and Communication Technology Association (LICTA) which was launched in June 2021.
He said the association is recruiting new members and they are at an advanced stage of holding an inaugural first Annual General Meeting (AGM) in September 2021.
When responding, the Prime Minister, Dr Moeketsi Majoro expressed appreciation that the presentations will help them as a government to understand what can be done to further improve service delivery for a better Investment Climate in the country.
Dr Majoro said Investment Climate is what enables investment and makes individuals want to invest or walk away to a more competitive place.
He remarked that they recognise efforts made at LAA and OBFC however noting that more needs to be done to ensure integration of services where different agencies will be in one roof making decisions hence committed that PMDU will work together with all stakeholders in ensuring that all systems work in comprehensiveness.
Talking about government efforts to improve this situation, government senior officials have been urged to consider the Business Processes Rethinking initiative which he said is vital for business growth, saying the initiative requires stakeholders to rethink about procedures and processes they undertake when doing business thus rethink if such procedures or processes are needed or can be eliminated.
The Public Private Dialogues are organized by the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (PMDU) to facilitate regular dialogue between the government and the private sector. There have been eleven meetings since the 1st April 2021 where different topics have been addressed. The participants in these meetings include the Prime Minister, Ministers, Principal Secretaries, Heads of State-Owned Entities, Representatives of Development Partners and private sector.
By Staff Reporter

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