The Prime Minister, Mr. Samuel Matekane has urged Ministers to capitalise on the Transformational Leadership training retreat for effective service delivery and to ensure that they professionally lead public service that will bring back the public trust in government.
The Prime Minister made the remarks when officially opening a three-day Transformational Leadership Retreat for Cabinet ministers in Teyateyaneng Berea.
Mr. Matekane expressed his confidence that the new skills will improve their performance and ensure effectiveness in service delivery, adding that it will help them to explore and learn about the effective delivery of government policies and share ideas and experiences.
Furthermore, he said Lesotho is facing youth unemployment, however saying the Sebabatso initiative seeks to address these challenges while the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP II) seeks to advocate for inclusive economic growth and private sector led jobs.
On the other hand, he stressed that the public sector has a high Wage Bill, and this calls for innovative strategies and investment towards productive employment, hence the country needs sound and aggressive job strategies to address the ticking time bomb of youth unemployment.
The Prime Minister said COVID-19 and climate change have worsened the country’s vulnerability to pandemics, deepened food security challenges and damaged infrastructure, therefore the country needs climate smart development solutions.
Mr. Matekane highlighted other areas which need interventions such as enhancing gender equality, youth and women empowerment, and providing support for the sidelined sectors of the society, adding that improvement of sporting codes is an investment for the youth’s health while is also the unifying factor, hence it has to be supported.
He stressed that at the local government level, they must be able to bring services to the nation and this therefore calls for functional and effective structures to strengthen the roots of decentralization, saying to achieve these goals; transformational leadership is significant.
Also speaking, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Lesotho, Ms. Amanda Khozi Mukwashi said Lesotho was a peaceful country, but lately, people say it for greeting one another without thinking of its real meaning and yet King Moshoeshoe I wanted it to have a fundamental meaning.
Ms. Mukwashi highlighted that in places such as Ribaneng, communities are living in fear due to blanked gangs, saying teachers cannot say anything when students carry weapons at school, and pregnant mothers are unable to access health services in fear of the gangs.
The UN Resident Coordinator said young people in Lesotho are forced to migrate for greener pastures in South Africa and work as domestic workers.
The Transformational Leadership Retreat ended on Sunday.
Source: LENA 26/01/2024
