Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique’s parliamentary opposition parties on Wednesday called for a public consultation on the National Development Strategy (ENDE) 2025-2044, criticising the document for ignoring “important aspects” relating to the problems of the public. It should be noted that The ENDE 202520244 was to be approved in general, later in the session, by all political parties sitting in parliament except for the MDM.
“The ENDE presented to us does not correspond to the degree of urgency and depth and feasibility that the Mozambican reality demands. This National Development Strategy is a vision without people, a plan without life, a set of good intentions devoid of measurable commitments and incapable of answering the fundamental question: how will the people be living in 2044?” criticised Podemos MP Ivandro Massingue.
Yesterday, the Mozambican parliament was debating the motion for a resolution approving ENDE 2025-2044, a government document that defines the pillars for the next 20 years as the structural transformation of the economy, with investments totalling almost US$114 billion (€100.3 billion), and social and demographic transformation, with US$70.8 billion (€62.3 billion).
According to the Podemos parliamentary caucus, the largest parliamentary opposition force, the document “ignores important aspects” of community development.
“We demand and propose the immediate revision of the National Development Strategy with the integration of civil society, young people and Mozambican experts (…). You can’t govern with recycled promises, while families continue to live in huts in the middle of the 21st century,” argued Ivandro Massingue, criticising “important omissions” in the document, especially with regard to housing and the cost of living.
The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) favours the return of the document for public consultation, considering that it ignores “neuralgic aspects” that “should be incorporated”.
“We propose modernised agriculture in the short term because one of the biggest problems for Mozambicans is hunger, a lack of food on a daily basis (…). It is essential that National Road 1 is completely passable and safe and that an alternative road to the N1 is built,” argued Renamo MP José Manteiga, also pointing to the need to create “new urban areas” to relieve congestion in urban centres.
The Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) labelled the document being debated in parliament as “opaque”, considering that it should set out a clear vision for “leveraging the country’s economic growth” over the next two decades.
“It should be orientated towards achieving a broad national consensus on the country that we want to build over the next 20 years (…). This document presents a reduction in the poverty rate from 68.2% in 2024 to 7.9% by 2044, at a time when the country has been cyclically ravaged by cyclones and this proposal does not address how poverty will be reduced in a fragile economy with high unemployment and endemic corruption,” pointed out MDM MP Judite Sitoe.
The government has identified funding needs of €300 billion to implement the five priority pillars of the National Development Strategy 2025-2044 and achieve the target of almost 10% economic growth.
The document revises upwards the needs identified previously, when the strategy was approved in June 2024, indicating investment needs of €246 billion.
It also incorporates the pillars of Infrastructure, Organisation and Territorial Planning, with investments of US$56 billion (€49.3 billion), National Unity, Peace, Security and Governance, with US$52.6 billion (€46.3 billion), and Environmental Sustainability, Climate Change and Circular Economy, with US$48.3 billion (€42.5 billion).
The National Development Strategy will be funded until 2044 by a ‘combination’ of the state budget, specific development funds and tax incentives and subsidies.
Despite the objections, the 2025-2’44 ENDE was approved in general by parliament yesterday with Frelimo, Podemos and Renamo all in favour and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) voting against.
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