The Youth’s Perceptions of and Expectations From the 2022 Coalition Government of Lesotho

Abstract

Lesotho voted into power a political party which was only six months old. This was because the nation was tired of poor service delivery, poorly performing economy, political instability and a general lack of direction for the nation in all aspects by successive coalition governments. Power alternated between predominantly two political entities, mainly the congress and nationalist movements although in various shapes and under different names and coalition formations. The nation was tired of career politicians running the affairs of the nation to the ground. They settled on a political party made up of and led by the economic elite and their legal heavy weight allies. The six months old party garnered majority seats in parliament but could not make up the two thirds majority that could have enabled the party to form a single-party government. This study sought to establish the perspectives of the youth on the delivery of electoral promises by the government considering how much hope the party offered to the youthful constituency during the campaign trail. The study is qualitative in nature as it solicited the youth’s views from a critical analytic perspective. Interviews were carried out with influential youth in civil society, business and academia. The findings were presented and analysed thematically.