Blow For LEC Chairman

(MENAFN- The Post) MASERU – AN attempt by the Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) board chairman, Thabo Khasipe, to stop an investigation into the rot at the parastatal failed this week after the High Court ruled that the case was not urgent.

This means that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will now proceed with its investigations on Monday as was initially scheduled.

Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane on Tuesday quashed Khasipe's request for him to urgently hear his application to stop the investigation.

Khasipe rushed to the High Court last week asking the court to urgently stop the PAC from grilling his board pending finalisation of the case.

He also complained that board members were being subjected to embarrassing and unfair treatment.

“Having heard both counsel and read the papers I find that the matter is not urgent and consequently stricken off the roll,” Justice Sakoane said.

This paved the way for the PAC chairperson, 'Machabana Lemphane-Letsie, to summon the board to continue questioning them on the rot haunting the LEC.

“This shows that the High Court understands our job as an oversight body,” Lemphane-Letsie told thepost while reacting to Justice Sakoane's ruling.

Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane, the MP for the Popular Front for Democracy (PFD), also weighed in stating that the dismissal of the application's urgency“means the LEC is now obliged to return to parliament to account”.

The LEC board had described the previous PAC hearings as“accusatory, judgmental, and fundamentally unfair”.

It alleged that the sessions were marked by“open and ghastly acts” that“undermined the professional integrity” of those present and were conducted in a“harassing manner”.

The board sought an order to interdict the PAC from summoning the LEC officials to testify on matters it claimed fell outside the PAC's mandate, as defined under Parliament's Standing Orders and the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act.

In addition, the LEC requested the court to declare the previous PAC proceedings illegal or unlawful, and expunge all evidence and testimony provided by the LEC board members and staff from the committee's official records.

Had the court granted these requests, it would have effectively erased all records of the previous hearings, including key testimony and evidence that emerged during the sessions.

With the urgent application now dismissed, the PAC is expected to proceed with its investigation into the LEC operations amid ongoing concerns about accountability and missing funds.

Nkheli Liphoto

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