Lahja Nashuuta
The government of Lesotho is seeking support from Namibia and other African nations for Joshua Setipa, who wants to be elected secretary general of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Lesotho foreign minister Lejone Mpotjoana presented Setipa to President Nangolo Mbumba during the Special Envoy to Prime Minister Samuel Matekane’s courtesy visit to State House on Wednesday.
Setipa is visiting the Commonwealth’s member states to table his proposition in a move to lobby support ahead of the elections to be held in Samoa later this year.
The new secretary-general is set to be elected at the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which is scheduled to take place on 21 to 27 October, in Apia, Samoa.
Setipa is contesting the position against candidates from Ghana and Gambia.
Addressing the media at State House following a closed-door meeting, Mpotjoana described Setipa as the first southern African to run for the position.
If elected, he will be taking over from incumbent Patricia Scotland.
“Setipa is bringing a lot of experience. He is currently the senior director, strategy, portfolio, partnerships and digital division at the Commonwealth secretariat. He has an illustrious career spanning over 20 years, having served in different capacities in Lesotho, holding senior positions both locally and internationally.
“He was appointed the first managing director of the United Nations Bank of Technology for Least Developed Countries in 2018,” Mpotjoana said.
Mpotjoana added: “In 2018, Setipa was appointed the inaugural managing director of the United Nations Bank of Technology for Least Developed Countries. Prior to this, from 2017 to 2018, he was a senior consultant at the World Bank in Washington DC, USA.
He also served Lesotho’s government, as the minister of trade and industry from 2015 to 2017.
Before this, he was the chief executive officer of the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) from 2012 to 2014.
“The Lesotho candidate is running for the Commonwealth’s secretary-general. He has already been endorsed by SADC, and today we are here to deliver that message from our prime minister Samuel Ntsoloane Matekane to President Nangolo Mbumba, and to seek Namibia’s support in this endeavour,” Mpotjoana said.
Mpotjoana, who described the relationship between Namibia and Lesotho as “strong”, was positive Namibia will rally behind their candidate, who stands a good chance of winning the position.
“He has already got support from the SADC council of ministers, and we hope all heads of state will rally behind him at the upcoming Commonwealth summit,” Mpotjoana said.
Meanwhile, Mpotjoana urged South Africans to hold their election processes in a free and fair manner.
“I wish our neighbour a free and fair election.
We have the number of political parties campaigning and what we can say, as Lesotho is that South Africa is our neighbour, and we wish them a free and peaceful election, and we would like to see more development in the region, and not more of the crisis. Hence, let the South African people decide on the government they want,” he concluded.