
Maputo, 1 Oct (AIM) – The Deputy Chairperson of Mozambique’s National Elections Commission (CNE), Fernando Mazanga, who was appointed by the main opposition party, Renamo, has claimed that the CNE’s support bodies (the provincial and district elections commissions) have not received their allowances for about four months.
According to Mazanga, cited in Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O País”, “The situation is occurring in all of the country’s districts, totalling around 2,300 people without allowances. The lack of allowances makes no sense since the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which is supposed to make the payment, is fully aware of it”.
Mazanga explained that the problem started in November last year and meetings with the Prime Minister, Adriano Maleiane (who is now also Finance Minister), have been held, but “but so far nothing has been done. It’s a serious problem, especially in an election year.”
“This is essentially aimed at weakening the support bodies, making them vulnerable and thus susceptible to any kind of bribery and corruption. I’m very sad that the government isn’t making the money available. People think that the problem lies with the CNE, but it doesn’t”, he said.
Mazanga believes that “all this is happening because there is an outside hand running the CNE, which completely violates the law, as it should be an independent body.”
According to Mazanga, there was a situation that harmed CNE independence during the training of the support bodies for the tabulation of votes, “since the training, which should have lasted three or four days, only lasted three hours due to a lack of conditions in some places.”
“The problem lies in the provision of resources by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which complicates the body’s independence”, he claimed.
(AIM)
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