South African Institute of International Affairs

1. South African Institute of International Affairs Lesotho Democracy Programme ‘Strengthening parliament & constituency relations A New Contract for Democracy’ Tim Hughes Thursday 24 September 2009

2. The essence of representative democracy • No direct democracy • Minimal participatory democracy • Representative democracy • The need for a social contract

3. A letter to our Honourable Member of Parliament Dear Honourable, MAKING OUR DEMOCRATIC PARTNERSHIP STRONGER We hope an trust you and your family are well? We are writing to you to help strengthen the relationship between us and by so doing, help strengthen democracy in our beautiful Mountain Kingdom. We proudly voted you into office in February 2007 in the belief that you and the party are the best option for our people. We still believe this, but we feel that the relationship between our Honourable Member of Parliament and his/her constituents can be strengthened. We have met to discuss how we can help you to become and even better MP and have a few ideas and suggestions we would like to discuss with you.

4. Our democratic partnership The first thing we would like is to see you more often! We would like to suggest that we meet to discuss this, but we believe that we should meet with you at the following times: One week before the opening of parliament to discuss the parliamentary programme and how this may affect us. We would then want to talk to you about our concerns, needs and mandate to you. One week before the budget speech, we would like to meet with you to discuss what we can expect from the budget and how this may affect us After the budget, we would like to meet with you so that you can explain its content and what it means to us. At the close of each parliamentary session, we would like to meet with you to discuss what happened in parliament. We need to know abut the bills that were introduced and the laws that were passed and how these affect us.

5. Being the best M.P. We would also want to know the issues you in particular debated in parliament on our behalf and how you voted on important matters. We would also want to ask you to ask questions on our behalf and find out from you what the responses were to the questions you asked. We would also like to know more about parliament’s committees. How do they work and what do they do? If you sit on one of parliament’s committees Honourable, we would like you to tell us about the committee’s work and how this important to us. Did you give any interviews to the media Honourable? What were these about and how did they help us, your constituents who voted for you in February 2007?

6. Finally Honourable, we would like you to hold regular monthly constituency clinics on a Saturday morning so that working people can attend and meet with you. We would like to be able to make an input into what is discussed at these clinics. For example, if we have particular concerns about health, or education, or water, or safety or any other matter, we would want to be able to raise these with you in advance. We would also want to hear from you what success you have had in dealing with the issues we raised with you at the previous clinic. So that this process is fair and transparent, we will keep a record of what we discussed and agreed at each meeting.

7. In conclusion Dear Honourable, We are convinced that if we can work together in the way we have suggested, we have a better chance of improving the lives of all. We also believe that our democracy will be much, much stronger. Finally, we believe that if you join us in this partnership, you will be setting the highest standard for an MP in parliament and this will go a long way in securing your re-election! Thank you Honourable! Your constituents

8. Thank you Questions and clarifications