Bar Association wants to depoliticize constitutional council

Maputo, 5 Feb (AIM) – The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) has called for an end to political party control over the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law.

Speaking at the Tuesday ceremony in Maputo marking the start of the 2005 judicial year, the OAM chairperson, Carlos Martins, said the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, should no longer be allowed to appoint five of the seven judges on the Council.

These five are appointed by the political party parliamentary groups in accordance with the number of seats they hold. Thus four were appointed by the majority Frelimo Party, and just one by what was then the main opposition force, Renamo.

Frelimo thus has a guaranteed majority on the Council, even without counting the chairperson, who is appointed by the President of the Republic.

“It is time to depoliticise the Constitutional Council by reducing the number of judges appointed by parliament and allowing them to be appointed by other bodies, such as the Higher Councils of the Administrative Magistracy and of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and relevant professional associations”, said Martins.

The OAM thought this crucial in order to end distrust about the integrity and impartiality of the Constitutional Council.

“We should definitively distance political power from judicial power”, Martins declared.

The Attorney-General, Américo Letela, called for far-reaching amendments to the Constitution to adapt it to the true reality of the country.

He also called for greater accessibility and efficiency in the judicial system “making it more accessible, transparent, less bureaucratized and more efficient.”

Regarding the 1,534 inmates who escaped from the Maputo Central prison and the adjacent Top Security prison in the Christmas Day riot, the Attorney-General said that eight criminal cases have been opened to investigate the real reasons behind the escapes.

Letela also announced that his office has opened 651 criminal and civil cases against those who participated in the rioting following the calls for mass demonstrations by the former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane in protest against the fraudulent results of the 9 October general elections.

“We want to ensure that all the situations that have resulted in deaths, bodily harm or destruction of public or private property as a result of the violent demonstrations deserve and will deserve due treatment from us, with the launch of the appropriate procedures to identify the perpetrators, and determine the circumstances”, he said.
(AIM)
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