Maputo, 19 Jul (AIM) – The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, announced in Maputo on Tuesday that it will hold an extraordinary sitting from 3 to 7 August, mainly to eliminate from the country’s Constitution any date for the first elections to district assemblies.
When a set of constitutional amendments on decentralization was approved in 2018, it included a commitment to hold district elections in 2024.
But nobody knew what powers the district assemblies would have, or how to avoid overlaps with the existing district and municipal assemblies.
Last year, President Filipe Nyusi called for a nation-wide reflection on whether it would be desirable or feasible to hold district elections in 2024. A commission established on the matter concluded that it would not.
The parliamentary group of the ruling Frelimo Party is now proposing a constitutional amendment that would remove the 2024 date, and merely state that the district elections will be held “when conditions allow”.
The main opposition party, Renamo, seems to have accepted that nationwide district elections cannot be held in 2024. Nonetheless, it has suggested that elections be held in at least some districts in that year.
The spokesperson for the Assembly’s governing board, its Standing Commission, Alberto Matukutuko, told reporters that the extraordinary sitting will also discuss a bill on setting up a Sovereign Wealth Fund, a bill on the organization and functioning of the municipalities, and amendments to the Labour Law.
Meanwhile, the Assembly has found that it is not immune to the financial crisis hitting the Mozambican state. This month the Assembly was unable to pay on time the rent and transport allowances owing to parliamentary deputies.
These allowances should be paid until the fifth of each month. But the July allowances were paid almost ten days late.
It was the Frelimo parliamentary group which first raised the issue. It received a reply from the Assembly administration that “due to the lack of liquidity, there is a delay in paying the July rent and transport allowances. The amount will be deposited in the bank accounts as soon as the situation is normalized”.
The amounts involved are substantial. The basic monthly rent allowance for a deputy is 24,645 meticais (about 400 US dollars, at the current exchange rate), and the monthly transport allowance is 45,000 meticais. Deputies who serve on parliamentary commissions receive larger allowances.
(AIM)
Pf/ (398)
