THE Basotho National Party (BNP), - the grand old party – GOP, of Lesotho politics has got a new leader. Machesetsa Mofomobe won the post at an elective conference held in Mazenod last weekend. This is indeed a ‘good’ moment for the nationalists.

Mofomobe takes the reins from his predecessor and ‘uncle’ Chief Thesele ’Maseribane who served two terms  - raising the bar for the BNP and two times leading the party with a sizeable number of Members of Parliament in the august house.

’Maseribane himself even won a constituency for the party in the 2015 general elections. What the BNP supporters would want is no doubt for their party to maintain the rise and impact it has had in Lesotho politics – at least a graph rise from where the outgoing leader put it.

It is encouraging as we report elsewhere in this publication that Machesetsa said he felt both “powerful and content” in his maiden speech after the gigantic win.

As ‘powerful’, the BNP and indeed all peace loving Basotho, regardless of whether they voted in elective conference that put him in power would wish for the BNP to have a positive contribution in the advancement of democracy and the rule of law in modern Lesotho.

It is incumbent on him to also positively eye a constituency for himself in the upcoming 2022 general elections. This is a prime opportunity for Machesetsa as the new, young leader of the party to completely erase the memories of the BNP government of the 70s for which many Basotho still feel hurt.

It is an opportunity to build a new legacy.

It is an opportunity to present to this great nation that the BNP remains today an alternative to the corrupt-ridden parties that have been put in power since 2012 … and Machesetsa the ball is in your court sir.

It is however, regrettable that a soul lost a life at the same conference. It is also worrying that the incoming leader is reported to have said “what happened was not strange after one of the party members had earlier declared war, threatening bloodshed at the conference”.