Ministry of Lands and Settlement: The Hon. G. G. Kariuki, MP; The Hon. S. Mohamed Amin, MP Ministry of Housing: The Hon. A. S. Khalif, MP; The Hon. E. K. K. Bomett, MP; The Hon. W. E. C. Mukuna, MP Ministry of Works: The Hon. John Keen, MP; The Hon. D. N. Kuguru, MP The Hon. M. B. Wood, MP; The Hon. Z. M. Anyieni, MP The Hon. D. C. N. Moss, MP; The Hon. H. J. Onamu, MP The Hon. J. Z. Kase, MP; The Hon. O. Makone, MP The Hon. S. C. Ole Oloitipitip, EBS, MP; The Hon. Mohamed Jahazi, MP The Hon. A. A. Ochwada, MP; The Hon. S. M. Kioko, MP Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife: The Hon. Jan Mohamed, MP; The Hon. J. M. Kariuki, MP Ministry of Education: The Hon. P. N. Mbai, MP; The Hon. C. W. Rubia, EBS, MP East African Affairs: The Hon. G. N. Kalya, MP, MLA Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Director of Personnel: J. A. Gethenji OFFICE OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Permanent Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning: Ministry of Health: Permanent Secretary: Ministry of Natural Resources: Permanent Ministry of Labour: Permanent Secretary: Ministry of Lands and Settlement: Per- Ministry of Housing: Permanent Secretary: Ministry of Works: Permanent Secretary: Attorney-General's Chambers: Registrar General: D. J. Coward, CMG, OBE Ministry of Commerce and Industry: Permanent Secretary: G. M. Matheka Ministry of Power and Communications: Permanent Secretary: S. B. Ogembo Ministry of Information and Broadcasting: (Acting) Permanent Secretary: J. Ithau Ministry of Co-operatives and Social Services: Permanent Secretary: J. N. Oluoch Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife: Permanent Secretary: J. K. arap Koitie Ministry of Education: Permanent Secretary: P. J. Gachathi DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATION KENYAN REPRESENTATIVES IN OTHER COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES High Commissioner in the United Kingdom: COMMONWEALTH HIGH COMMISSIONERS United Kingdom: Mr A. A. Duff, CMG, Nigeria: Mr I. C. Olisemeka; Malawi: Mr Zaire; France*; Germany; Somalia; L LESOTHO ESOTHO lies between latitudes 28° 35′ and 30° 40′ S. and longitudes 27° and 29° 30′ E. It is a mountainous country wholly surrounded by South Africa, with Natal to the east, Cape Province to the south and the Orange Free State to the north and west. Out of the total area of 11,716 square miles, about one-third lying along the western and southern boundaries, is classed as 'lowland' and is between 5,000 feet and 6,000 feet above sea level. The remainder of the country, the ‘highlands', is mostly between 7,000 feet and 9,000 feet above sea level. The two main mountain ranges are the Maluti Mountains and the Drakensberg range, which run from north to south. The Maluti, in the central part of the country, are spurs of the main Drakensberg range, which they join in the north forming a high plateau. The highest mountains are in the Drakensberg range, which forms the border with Natal, where Cathkin Peak, Giant's Castle and Mont-aux-Sources are all over 10,000 feet high. The highest mountain is Thabana Ntlenyana, 11,425 feet high. Two of the largest rivers in the Republic of South Africa, the Orange and the Tugela, and the tributaries of the Caledon, have their sources in the mountains of Lesotho. The climate is generally healthy and pleasant. Rainfall is variable and averages about 29 inches a year over the greater part of the country. Most of the rain falls during the summer months between October and April but there is normally no month which has less than half an inch of rain. The winters are normally dry with heavy frosts in the lowlands. Temperatures in the lowlands vary from about 32-2°C (90°F) in summer to a minimum of −6·7°C (20°F) in winter. In the highlands the range is much wider and temperatures below freezing point are common. Snow falls frequently in the highlands in winter but only rarely in the lowlands. The results of a census taken in 1966 show a total population present in the country of 852,000 persons. The number of persons believed to be absent from Lesotho at the time of the census was 115,000, giving a total population of 967,000 persons. Of the 852,000 people in the country in 1966 the census shows that 849,986 were African, 1,593 European and 799 Asiatic. The Europeans are mainly civil servants, traders and missionaries and the Asiatics are mainly traders. The African population has more than quadrupled since an early census taken in 1891. The language of the Basotho is Sesotho (or southern Sotho). Some small tribal units speak also vernaculars of the Nguni group, including Zulu and Xhosa. The official languages are English and Sesotho. About 70 per cent of the population are Christians. The non-Christians hold to their traditional beliefs. Lesotho is divided into nine districts, each with the same name as the district town; Butha-Buthe, population 55,00, Leribe, population 139,000; Berea, population 100,000; Maseru, population 182,000; Mafeteng, population 103,000; Mohale's Hoek, population 97,000; Quthing, population 65,000; Qacha's Nek, population 57,000; Mokhotlong, population 55,000; the capital is Maseru with a population estimated in 1968 to be 14,000. There are three weekly scheduled air flights (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) from Johannesburg to Maseru and back. Apart from the Maseru airfield, there are some thirty airstrips in Lesotho, the main ones being at Mokhotlong, Sehonghong, Semonkong and Qacha's Nek. Most of these are suitable only for the lightest type of aircraft. The country is linked for passenger and goods services with the rail system of South Africa by a short line (gauge 3 feet 6 inches) from Maseru to Marseilles on the Bloemfontein-Natal main line. One mile of the line is in Lesotho. Elsewhere the railway runs close to the border and goods are transported by road to and from the nearest station across the frontier. There are some 1,200 miles of gravelled and earth roads and vehicle tracks, and a few miles of bitumenised roads in urban areas. A 90-mile tarred road links Maseru to several of the main lowland towns in Lesotho. Radio Lesotho is a broadcasting station operated by the Government Department of Information. Lesotho has few natural resources and no significant industrial development. The economy is based on agriculture and animal husbandry, and the adverse balance of trade (mainly consumer and capital goods) is offset in part by the earnings of the large numbers of Basotho who work in South Africa. Apart from some diamonds. no mineral deposits have so far been discovered. With the setting up in 1967 of the Lesotho National Development Corporation, the Government of Lesotho hopes to encourage industrial development which will provide local employment opportunities. The utilisation of Lesotho's great potentialities as a source of water supply are under study, and surveys have been made. Agreement has been reached in principle between Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa to go ahead with the Malibamatso (formerly the Oxbow) water supply scheme. This project is expected to add substantially to Lesotho's revenue if South Africa takes advantage of this new source of water. British financial assistance towards the economic and social development of Lesotho includes the provision of capital for development and of aid for the recurrent budget. Under the Colonial Development and Welfare Acts grants totalling £4.9 million were provided between 1945-46 and 1965–66. Until 1956 the extra and increasing recurrent expenditure incurred from the expansion of social services, and even some development capital expenditure, was provided out of the country's revenues. From 1957 onwards, the annual budgetary deficits increased and in 1960 Britain began giving annual grants in aid of administration to balance the budget. In the period 1960-61 to 1966-67 these grants totalled some £11.5 million. In the financial talks which took place immediately after independence, Britain offered a forward commitment to provide financial aid up to a total of £11 million in the period 1967-68 to 1969-70, to be allocated between develop ment expenditure and budgetary aid as might subsequently be agreed between the Governments of Great Britain and Lesotho. Following the devaluation of the pound sterling in 1967 the British Government informed the Government of Lesotho that the Rand equivalent of the British aid would be maintained at the pre-devaluation value for the years 1967/68 and 1968/69. British budgetary nd development aid up to a total of approximately £2 million was allocated in 1970/71, £2.35 in 1971/72 and up to £1-858 million will be provided in 1972/73. Lesotho's well developed education system owes much to missionary work. Most schools are mission-controlled, the Government providing grants for salaries and buildings. Despite the mountainous countryside, few areas lack a school, a fact reflected in the high literacy rate of approximately 70 per cent. There were 35 secondary schools in 1970, 11 of which offered a full five-year course leading to the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate. The University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland was established by Royal Charter at Roma, 22 miles from Maseru, on 1st January 1964. HISTORY In the early nineteenth century some of the leading tribal groups which were later to form part of the Basotho nation were settled along the present-day north-western borders of Lesotho near Leribe. Among these were the Bakwena, led by Moshesh, then a young man who, though only a minor chief, had shown outstanding qualities of leadership and gathered a following from other tribes. This was the period of the "Wars of Calamity" when Chaka's Zulu impis raided across the Drakensburg from Natal, driving before them the remnants of other tribes. In 1824 Moshesh, who now was the leader of some 5,000 persons, sought refuge at Thaba Bosiu, a virtually impregnable flat-topped hill near Maseru. From this base he was able, by a judicious mixture of firmness and diplomacy, to avert further Zulu and Matabele attacks. By 1831 he had become the acknowledged chief of the local Basotho clans and had gained the allegiance of other tribal groups. Within a few years, however, an even greater threat to Moshesh's people arose in the form of the emigrant Boers of the Great Trek of 1834. These Voortrekkers, seeking homes and grazing for their herds, encroached on the level lands around the Caledon river where the Basotho were already established. From then on, until his death in 1870, Moshesh was engaged in a struggle involving both border warfare and negotiation to preserve the territorial integrity and independence of the Basotho homeland. In this he was ably assisted by the French Protestant missionary Eugene Casalis, who from his arrival in 1833 with two companions identified himself with the Basotho and acted as Moshesh's adviser in relations with the outside world. For over 30 years the western and southern marches of the customary lands of the Basotho were in a state of constant unrest. While the Boer farmers continually encroached into Moshesh's territory, the Basotho retaliated by raiding their cattle. By adopting the horse as a means of transport and by acquiring firearms the Basotho were able to inflict severe reverses on the Boer commandos, but the creation of the independent Orange Free State (OFS) in 1854 led to increased pressure and in 1858 to inconclusive warfare. Advised by Casalis, Moshesh had from as early as 1842 sought the protection of the British Crown; in the following year he signed an agreement by which he became "a friend and ally" of the Cape Colony, but this agreement was later cancelled. In 1861, under further pressure from the OFS, Moshesh again petitioned the British High Commissioner in South Africa, saying that his country could only be secure if the Basotho were to be recognised as the Queen's subjects. The British Government continued to be unwilling to assume further responsibilities in South Africa until renewed hostilities between the OFS and the Basotho from 1865 onwards, which seemed likely to result early in 1868 in the complete defeat of the Basotho and the total annexation of their country, led to a change of policy. On 12th March 1868 the British High Commissioner issued a proclamation declaring the Basotho to be British subjects and their territory to be British territory. There remained the immediate cause of the conflict, the lack of a defined and accepted frontier between the OFS and the Basotho. The Convention of Aliwal North, concluded on 12th March 1869 confirmed to the OFS the recently conquered lands west of the Caledon River but restored to the Basotho other lands east of the Caledon which had been lost in the recent fighting. The frontier laid down by the convention has remained substantially unchanged to the present day. For three years Basutoland was administered by the High Commissioner, but in 1871 it was formally annexed, with the agreement of Britain, to Cape Colony which had recently been granted responsible government. Although material conditions quickly improved under a rule of law and order, there was a legacy amongst the minor chiefs of insubordination to the Paramount Chief (as Moshesh's successors were entitled) and of apprehension amongst the people about the future. Much of the proceeds of the sales of their livestock or from their earnings by service in the Kimberley diamond fields (which from about 1870 began to provide a market for expatriate Basotho labour) were invested in firearms. An attempt by the Cape Colony Government in 1880 to enforce a policy of disarmament on the Basotho tribesmen, led to several years of desultory and inconclusive fighting-the so-called Gun War. In 1883 the Cape Government asked Britain to be relieved of the charge of Basutoland. The British Government thereupon offered the Basotho the choice of returning to the position they had occupied before being taken under the protection of the Crown or of coming under direct British rule. In November 1883 the major Basotho chiefs signified their wish to become British subjects ‘under the direct rule of the Queen'. In March 1884 Basutoland was brought by proclamation and Order in Council under the direct control of the Crown, through the High Commissioner in South Africa. CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT When the four provinces of South Africa came together in 1908 to discuss the possibility of a federation or union, the Basotho chiefs sent a deputation to England asking that Basutoland should not be incorporated in any future union. Accordingly when the Act of Union was passed Basutoland remained a British colony. In 1910 an advisory body known as the Basutoland Council consisting of the Resident Commissioner as President, the Paramount Chief as Chief Councillor and 99 Basuto members (94 nominated by the Paramount Chief and 5 by the Resident Commissioner) was constituted by proclamation of the High Com |