Let’s get straight to it, the policy reflects “a wishful Christmas list.” After looking at it with some friends, I strongly believe that, it is a romantic aspiration. The policy does not capture the reality and/or economic context of Lesotho.
I have a few reasons to back this line of thinking and in this piece I will say what I believe is our case. I have seen areas such as Youth participation, leadership and democratic decision making as well as economic empowerment and skills development. Frankly, I don’t think this policy truly captures the true context of youth in this country.
The overall goal of the NYP 2017 – 2030 is the “Empowerment of All Basotho Youth”. This is to be achieved through proper coordination of youth interventions and initiatives in Lesotho; promote the dignity and self-esteem of all youth; to ensure their physical, intellectual and moral well-being; to take all measures to enhance their capabilities to contribute to the transformation of the economy and society; and accelerate their full participation in the socio-economic, cultural and political life in Lesotho and beyond.
The policy provides a framework for enabling youth develop social, economic, cultural and political skills to enhance their participation in all aspects or spheres of the overall development process to improve their quality of life. – Lesotho NYP 2017 – 2030
Now at first glance the above policy goal may look just like what we need. But now we have a problem; what will it take to bring about the transformation of the economy and society?
Empowering all Basotho youth, ambitious as this is, will need large sums of money, right? So I look at this country and particularly, its economic context and you know what, I think the time frame may be too short and that such an aspiration is an impossibility.
First of all, Lesotho is tight to an umbilical cord of foreign aid for its survival. Now when I try to figure out how this transformation will be reached I have limited options. Either we cut off some government ministries say those of armed forces and use that money for development; or we get into debt with International Monetary fund (IMF), in which case we remain enslaved to it. However, regarding issues of loan, we have another problem. Nations like Japan give only grants to Lesotho vs loans because the idea is that Lesotho has no capacity of paying back loans.
In the past nations like United Kingdom and Germany used to support Lesotho with finances but at some stage opted out. Has it dawned on the youth as to why that was the case? It was because according to the UN our country had to half the number of those living with poverty, but as it seemed Lesotho was in no way near the capacity of achieving that.
Lesotho doesn’t possess resources as do other developing nations like Kenya, so transforming its economy will take a miracle. The idea of helping was to achieve self-sustaining economies and this country couldn’t demonstrate a move towards that.
According to Claire Patterson in Country Report on Local Economic Development in Lesotho, Lesotho’s economy has been overwhelmingly shaped by the power and proximity of the South African economy, especially its mining sector, which has provided labor to a great number of migrant workers.
As a result, there has been a limited need for domestic jobs and self-employment and thus the low development of the informal sector. However, a common challenge for communities in both countries is access to regular income and economic opportunities. In Lesotho trying to resolve this challenge involves creating income generation opportunities in a relatively underdeveloped economy.
With this in mind, recently quite a number of mines are already claiming that they intend to lay off a couple of thousand people. The reasoning behind this is that, mining expenses are high. Resources are scares. Prices of such minerals have gone down. So with that coming up now, I am trying to think of what that may mean for this already struggling country.
One equally interesting is the case of regulatory frameworks. I have seen that the policy upholds the idea that youth don’t have access to financial support. Do I refute that? Not at all, but my concern is then, even if there’s such an access where will the money to give to the youth come from?
Suppose, the money that disappeared on account of government officials is recovered, will it be enough to ensure that the above NYP goal is reached?
For the picture depicted in this policy to materialize we need to forge ways of creating our own thriving economy and do away with foreign aid that comes with strings attached. Is that a possibility? Of course not at the moment. What if the US pulls back? Will our economic state permit the pursuit of this rosy entrepreneurial Lesotho? I think not.
This isn’t the first government initiative to be presented in this form, but believe it or not implementation hasn’t always been what people had anticipated. I simply don’t believe this policy’s objectives will have sufficed by the end of its term.
Below is an example of an initiative that came up, as a response to economic declension that was seen between 1982 and 2002.
“By the year 2020, Lesotho shall be a stable democracy, a united and prosperous nation at peace with itself and its neighbors. It shall have a healthy and well-developed human resource base. Its economy will be strong, its environment well managed and its technology well established” (Kingdom of Lesotho, 2007).
Looking at our present Lesotho, are we anywhere near the above aspiration? If yes, how near? If we’re not anywhere close, why?
Like I said, don’t pop the bottles yet because we still have a long, hard way to go.