Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday urged senior managers in the public administration to take no part in acts of corruption.
Speaking in Maputo at a meeting of the National Council of Coordination between Decentralised Provincial Bodies and Central State Organs, he said corruption was an evil with negative impacts for Mozambique, inside and outside the country.
He said that in 2020 there had been a sharp rise in the number of cases of corruption leading to disciplinary action. In that year 1,290 cases against allegedly corrupt public employees were initiated, against 911 in 2019. “This indicator is far too high”, said the President.
He cited the latest survey by the international NGO Transparency International (TI) on the perceptions of corruption in 180 countries. The TI statistics put Mozambique on the list of highly corrupt countries, alongside places like Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
Speaking to an audience that included provincial governors, provincial secretaries of state and mayors of municipalities, Nyusi encouraged them to deepen the knowledge of the legislation that governs the decentralised bodies, and to develop the actions that define good practices of governance.
“We cannot watch passively when our province, or our country is listed as a land of corruption where everybody is corrupt”, he declared. “Let us have the courage to confront corruption, even with the intimidation we might suffer. We have no alternative but to fight corruption vigorously in all sectors”.
“Good governance does not do deals with corruption”, stressed Nyusi. “My soldiers against corruption are you. If each of you does a little, then we can turn this round”.
He said he was angered whenever he heard that mayors, directors or other public figures are involved in corruption. “We cannot carry on watching this situation passively”, he declared.
Public managers, Nyusi added, should avoid any lack of supervision or of inspection of their subordinate, and suggested that they spend “an hour or 15 minutes a day learning about the situation in your institutions, in order to fight against corruption. You should be guided for greater rigour and legality in these matters, encouraging the relevant bodies to initiate disciplinary proceedings, and comply with the legal deadlines”.
“Those who have nothing to hide should not be afraid of audits”, the President added.
