Africa-Press – Mozambique. After Stefan Dick’s dismissal on Tuesday, President Filipe Nyusi today asked the new Secretary of State in the province of Manica, Fernando Bemane de Sousa, to act in conjunction with local institutions and “within the law”.
“It is necessary to continue to create a cordial working environment, of permanent institutional articulation and coordination with all the structures that you will find in the province of Manica. Our choice of you is because we recognize your ability and competence to carry out with professionalism the tasks that have been assigned to you,” Filipe Nyusi said after swearing Fernando Bemane de Souss into office in the Presidency of the Republic in Maputo.
The Mozambican president dismissed Stefan Dick Kassotche Mphiri from the post of Secretary of State for Manica province, in the centre of the country, on Tuesday (21-11) and immediately appointed to the post Bemane de Sousa, until yesterday Deputy Minister of Land and Environment.
The presidency statement did not mention the reasons for the dismissal of the former Secretary of State, but the decision came less than a week after a group of 100 civil society organisations publicly appealed to the head of state to remove Mphiri from office, commenting that he had made a public speech calling for “a reflection on the Law to Prevent and Combat Premature Unions, allegedly to legitimise the involvement of minors in premature unions”.
“We believe in integrity, loyalty, humility, fidelity and objectivity in transmitting the vision of our governance, within the principles defined by the law and policies of our governance. Seek tirelessly to seek solutions to solve the problems of the populations,” Nyusi urged, without justifying the change. “Redouble the effort to accelerate the implementation of the government’s various initiatives that impact the lives of communities and leave no one behind. Be creative, proactive, but always within the parameters of the law and make a difference in the implementation of these and other development programmes.”
Repudiation by civil society
A group of 100 Mozambican civil society organizations, represented by the Civil Society Forum for Children’s Rights, the Civil Society Learning and Training Centre, Forum Mulher, the Men for Change Network, the Network Against Child Abuse and the Coalition for Elimination of Premature Unions, on November 16th had issued a “note of repudiation” , reacting with “enormous indignation and perplexity” to statements made by Mphiri the previous day.
“The statements were made during an event in the district of Gondola, Manica, debating the issue of girls’ retention at school, where girls, community and religious leaders, parents and guardians participated,” the note of repudiation reads. “‘There are children as young as 10 who present the body of a 23-year-old mother […],’ the Secretary of State said, going on to ask: ‘When Mary became pregnant with Jesus, how old was she?’, suggesting a biblical basis for the promotion of premature unions,” it adds.
In the view of the organisations, the statements call into question “national and international achievements and strides made by the state and Government of Mozambique, as well as civil society and the entire Mozambican people”.
“They violate the basis and the rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic, the Family Law, the Law to Prevent and Combat Premature Unions and other legal instruments that protect and defend children’s rights,” they allege.
In the same note of repudiation, the organisations asked the President of the Republic to “dismiss the Secretary of State in Manica” for “violating” current legislation, and the Public Prosecutor, as “public defender”, to “investigate this public crime and take appropriate action regarding this attitude and behaviour, which violates a constitutional principle of defending the ‘best interests of the child’”.
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