REMARKS BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY, HON. DR. MOLAPO
REMARKS BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF
TRADE AND INDUSTRY, HON. DR. MOLAPO
HANDOVER CEREMONY OF INDEX OF LAWS OF
LESOTHO TO THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND LAW
AT
GOVERNMENT PRINTING
PREMISES
Thursday, 17th September 2020
Please allow me to start by paying my respects to:
His Majesty King Letsie III;
The Right Honorable Prime Minister Dr. Moeketsi Majoro;
Honorable President of the Senate;
Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly;
President of the Court of Appeal;
Ladyship the acting Chief Justice;
Honorable Minister of Justice and Law Professor Nqosa Mahao;
Excellency; World Bank Country Resident Representative Mr.
Yoichiro Ishihara;
The Attorney General;
Chairperson of the Lesotho Law Reform Commission;
Director of Public Prosecutions;
Principal Secretary Ministry of Trade and Industry;
Principal Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice;
President of the Lesotho Law Society;
Senior government Officials, Other Officials and Dignitaries here
present;
Distinguished guests;
Representatives of media houses;
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Honourable Minister of Justice and Law Professor Nqosa Mahao;
your Excellencies; The Ministry of Trade and Industry today is
pleased to hand over to the Ministry of Law and Justice the Index
of Laws of Lesotho. The World Bank, through the Private Sector
Competitiveness and Economic Diversification Project (PSCEDP)
provided funding to complete idn toto this project that had begun under
the Ministry of Justice Law from December 2018 to August
2019 with funding totaling to M1, 896,000.00.
Deliverables produced under this project and subject to hand over
today entail;
• 100 hardbound copies of an index of Laws of Lesotho,
comprising of laws of Lesotho from the colonial era, post
independence up to 2018. The index is produced in four
categories of Chronological Index, Alphabetical Index,
Subject Index as well as Historical Index.
• 100 soft copies comprising DVDs and 3 flash disks.
In recent years, Lesotho has seen the decline in accessibility to
law generally, and this matter was exacerbated by the fact that
laws of Lesotho are scattered and cannot be found in one place,
there was no mechanism to trace which laws are in force or have
been repealed. For instance, the Constitution of Lesotho for
example has nine amendments to it, but this information would
without the index not be available for the public thereby
rendering laws inaccessible.
The index in this manner makes tracing of laws easy, thereby
enhancing accessibility to laws. In particular, the business sector
stands to profit in a much larger scale through the index because
local businesses and global investors will be in a position to find
information regarding business laws in Lesotho easily.
The Lesotho Law Reform Commission is in the process of
providing the index electronically to enhance access to it. You will
recall that the Ministry of Trade and Industry is already providing
under the One-Stop Business Facilitation Centre, registration of
companies electronically. It would seem therefore that the index
indeed serves as a big milestone in improving easy tracing of
business and trade laws locally and across the globe. We have
seen especially during this Covid-19 global pandemic that the
world is going digital and that trade and business seem to be
largely surviving that way.
You will recall that earlier in his First 100th Day Speech of
Administration, the Right Honorable the Prime Minister addressed
completion of this particular milestone as one of the
achievements under the core objectives for Improving
Governance and Accountability, as such it is befitting that the
Ministry of Trade and Industry hands over deliverables to the
Ministry of Justice and Law today.
In conclusion, let me once again applaud the World Bank, the
PSCEDP, the Ministry Justice and Law, the Lesotho Law Reform
Commission and other stakeholders who made this project
successful.
Khotso!!! Pula!!! Nala!!!