Mozambique’s justice minister said on Friday that the results of the commission set up to assess the feasibility of district elections reflect the opinion of the “entire country,” reiterating that there are no funds to hold the ballot in 2024.
“The report presented by the commission not only reflects the perception of the members of the commission, but also what were the contributions they gathered throughout the hearings they conducted throughout the country […] All manner of different viewpoints were heard,” Helena Kida said during a press conference in Maputo.
At issue are the conclusions of the commission of reflection on the feasibility of holding district elections, created by the government, which believes that there are no conditions for holding the ballot, which was scheduled for 2024 in the constitution.
“Mozambique does not have enough resources to guarantee the expansion of the decentralisation model to the districts,” the minister said, adding that the first district elections, under the terms provided for in the constitution of the Republic, should take place “as soon as the conditions are created for them to be held.
The study, delivered to the government, recalls the need for a timely revision of the constitution to accommodate the postponement of the first district elections, given that the ballot, agreed as part of the peace agreement between the government and Renamo in 2018, results from a command of the country’s fundamental law, amended that year.
The document also warns that there are risks of non-compliance of the legal package of decentralisation with the country’s fundamental law, such as what currently happens, in which the provincial representative bodies enjoy attributions that go beyond their limits.
The commission indicates that the experience in the provinces has been marked by duplication and overlapping of powers and structures, lack of clarity and criteria for sharing material and human resources and lack of harmonisation of laws.
The study points to a risk of duplication of structures and responsibilities at district level, which would necessarily lead to a significant increase in the financial effort needed to sustain the new bodies.
The introduction of district elections from 2024 for the administrators of the 154 districts, currently appointed by central power, is part of the peace and national reconciliation agreement signed in August 2019 between the Frelimo government and the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), which maintains an “armed wing” which is undergoing a disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process.
Renamo and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) say that the aim of the ruling Frelimo is to remove district elections from the constitution without needing the votes of the opposition, since as of June (five years after the change to the fundamental law) it can do so with two-thirds of the votes of parliament – which it has.
Lusa
