Lesotho was on Wednesday plunged into political chaos after the country’s main party withdrew from its own governing coalition amid internal bickering.
The All Basotho Convention (ABC) of Prime Minister Moeketsi Majoro surprised many when it announced on Wednesday that it was pulling out of its 21-month governing coalition with the Democratic Congress.
The two parties came together in May 2020 following the resignation of former prime minister Thomas Thabane after he was implicated in the murder of his ex-wife.
“At its sitting of 2 March 2022, the ABC caucus reached a decision to withdraw from the coalition government and the coalition agreement with the Democratic Congress,” the party said in a statement.
The decision to pull out of the coalition is targeted at Majoro who has refused to step down as prime minister despite losing to which former health minister Nkaku Kabi in a vote two weeks ago for the party leadership.
The announcement means that Majoro has been left in the cold, with no government to lead. The ABC is now expected to enter negotiations to form a new coalition government that would be led by Kabi.
The decision also forced a delay in the presentation of the 2022 national budget in parliament by Finance Minister Thabo Sophonea on Wednesday, with lawmakers barring him from tabling his budget on the grounds that the government had collapsed.
Lesotho is not new to political instability, having weathered scores of such disturbances since its independence in the late 1960s.
JN/APA