Africa-Press – Mozambique. Ossufo Momade, the leader of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, declared on Thursday that no agreement has been reached with the government on postponing the first elections for district assemblies.
As part of the package of constitutional amendments on decentralization approved in 2018, the district elections were scheduled for 2024, and this date was put into the Constitution.
Speaking at the inauguration of a new Renamo presidential office in Maputo, Momade attacked President Filipe Nyusi for suggesting that consensus has been reached on delaying the district elections.
Cited in Friday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, he said “contrary to what the head of state recently affirmed, there was no consensus between Renamo and the government on not holding the district elections. We are in favour of not violating the Constitution of the Republic”.
But he added that, in the event that the conditions be shown not to exist for holding district elections over the entire country, “they should be held gradually, in those districts where the conditions do exist, but beginning in 2024, as envisaged in the Constitution”.
The agreement with the government that does exist, said Momade, is for the establishment of a commission which should study the best forms of decentralization.
Nyusi proposed setting up such a commission, and Renamo has appointed three members – namely Saimone Macuiana, Americo Ubisse and Latino Ligonha.
The parliamentary group of the ruling Frelimo Party has proposed a constitutional amendment removing the commitment to holding district elections in 2024. Instead, the amendment simply says that elections for the district assemblies will be held when the conditions are ripe.
It remains to be seen whether the Renamo parliamentarians will vote in favour of this amendment, which will be discussed at an extraordinary sitting of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, in August.
The commitment to district elections was made in 2018, without any prior discussion on what powers district assemblies will have, and how to avoid overlap between the district assemblies and the existing provincial and municipal assemblies.
Momade also demanded that the government speed up the granting of pensions to demoblised Renamo guerrillas. Normally, the allocation of pensions requires a considerable amount of paperwork.
But Momade said the process “should be quick and free from the normal bureaucracy of the State, because this is a sensitive matter which seeks to guarantee peace”.
The pensions are not a favour offered by the government to Renamo, he insisted.
Momade added that on Friday the Renamo National Political Commission is meeting to define the terms of reference for the district conferences that will elect the heads of the Renamo lists for the municipal elections scheduled for 11 October.
The head of the list of whichever party wins the most seats on a municipal assembly becomes the mayor.
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