BAR Association Warns Of Violation Of Rights In Implementation Of TSU
Maputo, 1 Feb (AIM) – The chairperson of the Mozambican Bar Association (OAM), Duarte Casemiro, believes that the manner in which the Single Wage Scale (TSU) is being implemented in the state administration violates the fundamental rights of public servants.
According to Casemiro, who was speaking on Wednesday, in Maputo, at the opening of the 2023 Judicial Year 2023, held under the slogan ”45 Years of Consolidating the Democratic Rule of Law”, the advances and retreats supposedly made in the TSU need to be reviewed, otherwise the rule of law will be thrown into crisis.
“It is a constitutional provision that every worker has the right to justice and fair remuneration, and so what we have been witnessing with the constant advances and retreats in remuneration caused by the way the TSU has been implemented is unacceptable”, Casemiro said.
According to the OAM chairperson, the State is violating the fundamental rights of workers, which is why there have been several protests from various sectors of the public administration, especially the most sensitive ones – namely, the health, education and justice services.
But Casemiro did not give any examples of people whose wages have been cut because of the TSU. When the government unveiled the definitive new TSU wages in mid-January, most groups of state workers received very substantial wage rises, in some cases over 100 per cent. The only officials known to have received a pay cut are at the very top of the scale – the TSU cut the salary of President Filipe Nyusi by about 20 per cent.
He also criticized the powers over the judiciary enjoyed by the President of the Republic. It is still the President who appoints and dismisses several senior figures in the judiciary, including the president and deputy president of the Supreme Court, the chairperson of the Administrative Tribunal, and the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General.
Casemiro believed this violated the principle of the separation of powers. The figures at the top of the judiciary, he argued, should not be dependent on the President “but should be elected by their peers and their boards of magistrates”.
According to Casemiro, the consolidation of the democratic rule of law will only be achieved after overcoming corruption, which has led to a deterioration in the administration of justice.
For the OAM chairperson, the lack of a constitutional provision for the rights of gay people and other sexual minorities also remains a problem. The government is still refusing to extend official recognition to LAMBDA, the organization set up to represent the interests of sexual minorities.
For her part, the Attorney General, Beatriz Buchili, told the ceremony that the challenge of the justice sector in Mozambique is to continue strengthening the capacity of the bodies of justice.
“We cannot build the Democratic Rule of Law with our back turned to accountability, effective implementation of laws, oversight of socio-economic activities, among other aspects”, Buchili said.
The country, she added, faces transnational organized crime, notably terrorism and its financing, money laundering, corruption, kidnapping and human trafficking.
“With the anti-corruption offices and criminal investigation services, we have strengthened our capacity to act, training more magistrates and agents of the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic)”, Buchili said.
“We remain committed to ensuring that these offices respond effectively to combat crime, committed by structured groups, some of which are linked to public and private institutions, inside and outside the country”, she stressed.
(AIM)
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