SECTOR 1 Common practice in Lesotho is that responsibility for any legislation falls on the minister responsible for the sector. The bill is drafted and sent straight to cabinet, upon cabinet approval it goes straight to Parliament. “It would be better if government gave stakeholders an opportunity to provide input prior to it [legislation] being submitted to cabinet and this will ensure that cabinet approves something which has had input. As it is, now, when stakeholders give inputs, it is like they are opposing the current government…” This tends to frustrate citizens as it deny them their rights to participate in the national agenda. It is important to note that “the current speaker met with civil society and told them that the promise of the new government would be that every bill will be extensively consulted. So we need to see that he keeps his promise, because it’s easy to make promises.” Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 1.4 (2010 = 1.6; 2008 = n/a; 2006 = n/a) Average score for sector 1: 2.7 (2010 = 2.5; 2008 = 1.6; 2006 = 2.1) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2012 25