Lesotho delegation on study tour

A delegation of 15 government officials from the Kingdom of Lesotho is in the country for a week-long tour.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Local Government Minister James Musoni (R) hands a gift to his counterpart from Lesotho, Mothetjoa Metsing, during their meeting at the former's office on Monday. The New Times/Courtesy.

A delegation of 15 government officials from the Kingdom of Lesotho is in the country for a week-long tour.Led by the southern African country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Government, Mothetjoa Metsing, the delegation comprises senior officials from various ministries with a big number drawn from Local Government. The delegation is expected to among others learn about the country’s decentralisation policy.On Monday, the team met the Minister of Local Government, James Musoni, with whom they discussed various issues in line with the operation of the decentralisation policy."We realised that Rwanda is one of the African countries that has developed a comprehensive decentralisation policy and continues to successfully implement the programme,” said Metsing.He pointed out that the decision to tour the country was based on Rwanda’s progress in putting up a strong local government administration."Rwanda is known to have put in place a very effective performance management system and our government too needs to have in place effective integrated performance management systems,” he said.Metsing called for interaction amongst African countries to enable them to tackle their challenges. While in the country, the delegation will share experiences on best practices on the decentralisation and fiscal policies, functioning of local government and financing mechanisms.Others are mechanisms in place to fight corruption, service delivery at local government level as well as accountability tools. The team is scheduled to visit various ministries and public institutions and decentralised entities including districts.  The team yesterday visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial at Gisozi to pay their respects to the 1994 genocide victims buried there.Musoni commended the delegation for their decision to visit, saying efforts are in place to ensure that it serves the intended purpose.