On Wednesday evening, 19 February, the Mozambican President, Daniel Chapo, appointed the new Secretaries of State who will be responsible for the areas of trade, tourism, transport, arts and culture and sea and fisheries.
In separate orders, António Grispos was appointed Secretary of State for Trade; Fredson Bacar will be responsible for Tourism; Momade Juízo for Sea and Fisheries; Chinguane Mabote for Transport; and Matilde Muocha for Arts and Culture.
In January, in his inauguration speech, Chapo promised to launch a wide-ranging reform of the state to reduce the number of ministries, create new entities, promote the digitalisation of public services and fight corruption.
The elimination of the figure of the deputy minister and the reformulation of the positions of secretaries of state and permanent secretaries, as well as a review of the role of secretaries of state in the provinces, were other promises made by the new president, who also pledged to review the perks of public officials and the state’s privatisation programme.
‘These changes include freezing the acquisition of protocol vehicles for the state, so that we can acquire ambulances and other vehicles to serve the people. These are concrete measures that show that the government is willing to tighten its belt and lead by example.’
The election of Daniel Chapo has been contested on the streets since October last year, with successive demonstrations and stoppages across the country. Currently, in addition to contesting the results of the general elections, Mozambicans are complaining about the high cost of living and the lack of jobs.
The demonstrations and stoppages were initially called by former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who does not recognise the results. According to the Decide electoral platform, during the clashes with the police, more than 300 people died and 750 were shot.
