After a meeting with the Council Secretary of the Mafeteng District, whose duties and function remained completely unclear to me even after an hour long chat, I noticed a calendar published by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship. I was expecting stunning pictures of Lesotho, which I consider one of the most beautiful places on earth, similar to these ones which I took on the same trip:
But to my surprise, Lesotho’s Government had not chosen these kind of pictoresque images of Lesotho’s spectacular mountains, breathtaking valleys, crystal clear waterfalls and charming little villages, but instead went for these ones:
Initially baffled about why anybody would want to publish a calender with roundabouts and building sites, I thought back to the talks we had with the various Ministers and Officials and realised why these photos had been chosen:
The Government and the people of Lesotho hope that better roads will bring development into all provinces and improve the lifes of the rural population.
So far, everyday goods are more expensive or simply not available to consumers in rural areas, Government services (such as health care) do not reach the people, and poor road infrastructre increases the cost of building and operating factories and thus prevents investment. As a result growth and development has been slow or non-existent in many areas.
To change this, the Government of Lesotho is desperately trying to improve the country's infrastructure and more than half the national budget is spent on building and upgrading roads.
So pictures of paved roads and construction sites are an expression of pride of past achievements and signal hope for a better future.
Still, knowing of the beauty of Lesotho, they are not quite the pictures I would have chosen for a calender...
No comments:
Post a Comment