Daniel Chapo, the candidate of the ruling Frelimo Party in the presidential election scheduled for 9 October, has promised that he will digitalise the services of the public administration in order to reduce the opportunities for corruption.
In an interview with the independent television station STV, broadcast on Friday night, Chapo said he intended to lead by example.
“The fight against corruption has to start with me”, he said. “I challenge you to look for my file. If you find any blemish, come and tell me what you have found”.
There was a record, publicly available, of what he had done as a district administrator (in Nacala-a-Velha and Palma) and then as governor of the southern province of Inhambane.
“If you like”, he told the interviewer, “you can go to Nacala-a-Velha, to find out what was done there, and see if anything exists. Same with Palma and Inhambane”.
A leader must have integrity, he stressed. “The leader must be exemplary”, Chapo said. “This will give him the legitimacy to fight against corruption”.
This fight could not be based solely on speeches and on laws. Preventive measures should be taken, he said, and he viewed the computerisation of state services in that light.
At the same time, “society must be educated for honesty”, Chapo said. “Society needs ethical and moral values”.
He also called for renegotiating the contracts with multinational companies, so that they no longer regard social responsibility as doing the government a favour.
If elected, he promised, his government “will do things differently, in order to obtain different results”.
Chapo promised to strengthen the power of state institutions, in order to combat crimes such as the wave of kidnappings that has terrorized the business community since 2011.
He said this would need changes in the law, and “the appointment of competent people to deal with complex processes”.
The collaboration of kidnap victims was also important, but the distrust of the police is such that victims and their families often refuse to cooperate with the authorities.
“I believe that, if we place the right people in the leadership, we can re-establish the confidence necessary to fight against all the evils that affect society”, Chapo said.
He strongly rejected handing over the country’s education and health services to foreign management. In a clear criticism of the current government, Chapo said “the whole education sector, with the exception of the payment of wages, is run on the basis of projects. If somebody offers me money to make the school textbooks, he even dictates the content of the books”.
“If somebody offers me money to buy medicines, he even dictates where to buy the medicines and what type of medicines I should buy”, he continued.
“You don’t build education and health care with other people’s money”, Chapo stressed. He regarded education and health as matters of sovereignty, and as such they must remain in the hands of the state.
The official election campaign began on Saturday, and Chapo launched his campaign in the central city of Beira, which has always been a bastion of the opposition.
On his arrival at Beira airport he called on his adversaries to avoid “provocations” which might lead to acts of violence. Instead, the campaign should be used to celibrate the 30th anniversary of the country’s first multi-party elections, held in 1994.
AIM
