Venâncio Mondlane promises to slim down government

Maputo, 5 Jul (AIM) – Mozambican presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane on Thursday presented what he calls his “pre-manifesto”, in which he promised that, if elected, he would slim down the government and reduce the powers of the President.

Mondlane used to be a prominent figure in the main opposition party, Renamo, but failed in his attempt to replace Ossufo Momade as Renamo president, when the Renamo leadership refused to allow him to attend the party’s congress, in mid-May.

Mondlane resigned from Renamo, and his supporters were able to collect enough signatures to allow him to run as an independent candidate in the presidential election scheduled for 9 October.

He is now backed by the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), a grouping of small extra-parliamentary parties.

In his “pre-manifesto”, Mondlane promised to abolish the figures of Provincial Secretary of State, Deputy Ministers and Permanent Secretaries in the Ministries.

It has long been argued that the provincial secretaries of state duplicate jobs that should be done by the provincial governors, and are thus an expensive irrelevance.

Mondlane claimed that the positions he wants to abolish “don’t do anything”, and were only created “to accommodate the interests of political parties”.

As for presidential powers, other parties, notably the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), have long argued that the President should not appoint figures in the judiciary (such as the President of the Supreme Court, or the Attorney-General).

Cited in Friday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, Mondlane said he would not put this proposal to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. Instead he wants the entire country to vote on presidential powers, through a referendum, which he promised to hold in the first three months of his governance.

But, although the possibility of referendums is mentioned in the Mozambican constitution, none have ever been held, and the legal framework needed to hold a referendum has never been passed.

Mondlane said he wants to eliminate the politicization of the Mozambican state, guaranteeing that state institutions are used to benefit all Mozambicans, and not just members of particular political parties.

Mondlane promised that, if he is elected, his government “will represent the people’s will”, and so it will consist, not only of the CAD, but also of members of other parties and representatives of civil society.

He is also calling for financial decentralization of the revenues earned by natural resources – that is, each province should benefit from its natural wealth, and only then should a share of the wealth pass into the hands of the central government.

He boasted that, in 20 years, he could turn Mozambique into “one of the greatest nations in the world”.

(AIM)

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