The Ministry of Trade and Industry is one of the first ministries to emerge as independent ministries after Lesotho got independence in 1966. At that time, the Ministry was known as the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and as the name indicates; its mandate was on those issues. Around 1967, the mandate of the Ministry was expanded to include finance and this caused the name of the Ministry to change to Ministry of Finance, Commerce and Industry. After about eight years, around 1975, the mandate was changed and the Ministry was no longer responsible for finance, hence the name changed back to Ministry of Commerce and Industry. During this time, the Ministry regulated all trading activities, including liquor licensing but excluding trade in agricultural products. Once again after about eight years, in 1983 the Ministry was given the mandate on tourism issues and the name changed to Trade, Industry and Tourism. This however did not subsist for long as in 1987, tourism was removed and the Ministry was, for the first time after independence, known as the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The Ministry during the period after 1987 had two main departments – The Department of Trade and the Department of Industry. The Department of Trade further had a “Consumer Protection Section” while the Department of Industry had a “Standards Section”. Both Sections were later merged under the Department of Trade but in 1996, the Standards Section was detached from the Consumer Section and with nine substantive officials, the … Continue reading Background