
Maputo, 20 Sep (AIM) – Mozambique’s Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) on Wednesday cancelled a tender to select trainers for polling station staff (MMVs) in the central city of Quelimane.
STAE had discovered that the tender was fake, and that in reality the ruling Frelimo party had submitted a list of 154 candidates to fill the posts of trainers.
Two weeks ago the main opposition party, Renamo, had complained that the list of the 154 names came straight from Frelimo, and did not pass through any tender. But the Zambezia provincial director of STAE claimed there were no grounds for the Renamo accusation.
However, the general director of STAE, Lolo Correia, did not agree. STAE-Central investigated the list, and found that Renamo was right – the names did indeed come from “the list of a political party”, although Correia did not mention Frelimo by name.
In ordered to safeguard “the principle of the transparency of administrative acts”, STAE-Central annulled the Quelimane tender. The 154 names on the list will now have to be replaced by STAE staff from Zambezia and other provinces, to train the Quelimane MMVs.
Cancelling the fake tender in Quelimane inevitably leads to the question: in how many other districts has the same thing happened?
The anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), has repeatedly warned of attempts to corrupt the recruitment of trainers and of MMVs. CIP’s latest bulletin on the elections claims “the manipulation of the public tender is happening in all the districts”.
According to the electoral legislation, there should be seven MMVs at each polling station. Four of these should be selected by STAE on the basis of merit, through a public tender. The other three are appointed by the political parties represented in parliament – Frelimo, Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).
But the manipulation discovered in Quelimane means that effectively Frelimo appoints five of the seven MMVs and the opposition parties just two.
With the election scheduled for 9 October, there is not enough time to cancel all the district level tenders, and start the recruitment again.
(AIM)
Pf/ (352)