The campaign was held in collaboration with the District Urban Council with an impressive turn out of more than 600 citizens. The Responsible Herding campaign is an ongoing campaign by PISA aimed at providing information and building knowledge and awareness among citizens on livestock herding/farming practices that lead to soil erosion and threaten water sources.
Honourable Deputy Minister of Local Government and Chieftainship Honourable Kotiti Liholo, expressed a strong appreciation of PISA presence in Lesotho since May 2016.
Speaking at GIZ end of year networking event on Thursday 30th November, 2017 at GIZ compound Maseru, Liholo explained the importance of PISA in Lesotho and its citizens. “PISA is aimed at contributing to the strengthening and promotion of vibrant and open democracy in Lesotho, thus equipping citizens with knowledge and ability to excise their rights and responsibilities.”
Central to the Khotso Pula Nala motto is a deep philosophical appreciation of how the nation shall live. First there has to be peace, then natural response would be rain which indicates in the belief of Basotho that the people have favour of God on their side and then prosperity becomes eventuality. The inbuilt logic is that for prosperity there should be rain and of course other blessings from above yet they are not natural, they are earned through peace. In this context the National Vision 2020 was spot on in putting peace at its core and prosperity among key pillars. Whether we have kept this only as a slogan or a living inspiration the answer is obvious.
Generally speaking, young people possess notable attributes; they are fearless, dynamic, innovative, energetic, passionate etc. They also have the highest world population and current evidence suggests that there are about 1.8 Billion young people globally. Equally important, most of this young population is concentrated in developing countries. In the case of Africa, there are about 200 million young people and this makes the continent to have the youngest population. This shouts loud that youth are capable and can be resourceful drivers of every country’s success hence should rise up and realize own potential no matter which soil they are standing on, at any part of this continent.
Being a RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN can mean many different things in many different situations. It is therefore going to be important to mention from the onset that in this article this phrase will be looked at from the point of view of “VOTING” in Lesotho.
What it means to be a responsible citizen may sound simple, yet there are a number of social, legal and moral indicators which show that many of us may not be responsible citizens. Being a woman, a human rights lawyer, researcher and activist, makes it impossible for me to divorce my perception of being a responsible citizen from human rights. In my opinion, responsible citizenry is grounded on the notion of loving your neighbour as you love yourself. This is a biblical, cultural and legal concept.
