MASERU – The Popular Front for Democracy (PFD) has announced that it wants a government of national unity for Lesotho as a measure to counter the collapse of coalition governments that seem to have a life span that does not exceed two years. The PFD leader, Advocate Lekhetho Rakuoane, made this announcement during a press conference held in Maseru on Wednesday where he said it was high time that the current coalition government considered a grand coalition to avoid early elections. He said the fact that the two previous coalition governments collapsed within two years and the present one is also not so stable is a reason enough for Lesotho to consider a government of national unity. Adv. Rakuoane said his party is also advocating for the amendment of the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law so as to incorporate the lifestyle audit in order to effectively fight corruption. Asked why the previous governments left out the audit part in the declaration of assets, Adv Rakuoane said he was in fact supposed to have noted that the lifestyle audit was left out since it had initially been agreed in principle that it should be part of the law. “When the gazette was released, I realised that the lifestyle audit was not included but I did nothing about it. I was the one to have made the government aware of the situation, but I did not,” he revealed. He appealed to the government to review Parliamentarians and Ministers salaries and benefits, and those of senior government officials with public participation through a commission to be established which will perform its duties in a transparent manner. Adv Rakuoane said the issue was not a priority in the previous coalition government although it was in the manifesto of the PFD while other parties also had their different manifestos to form a coalition agreement, but he did not include the salary and benefits review. The PFD, according to Adv Rakuoane, also wants the government and public servants to establish a Public Sector Bargaining Council as soon as possible whose main focus will be to deal with grievances about salaries and benefits of employees such as those of police officers, teachers and all those who get paid from the public purse. Lena