Chapo calls on population to join free civil registration campaign

Maputo, 21 May (AIM) – Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Wednesday called on residents without personal documentation in Micanhelas district, northern province of Niassa, to take advantage of the free civil registration campaign underway throughout the country, carried out by mobile brigades.

The project, which expects to cover 7 million people, was launched last March and runs until December. It is being carried out by 500 mobile brigades, which travel to communities to carry out birth registration and the issuing of identification documents.

According to Chapo, speaking during a public rally held in Nsaca village, Micanhelas district, as part of his three-days working visit to Niassa, “those who do not yet have a birth certificate or other document should take advantage of this campaign, because the service is being provided free of charge.”

Chapo added that the measure is aimed at responding to the “critical deficit in birth registration and the high number of citizens without legal identification in the country.”

On the occasion, the President handed over two ambulances and announced the construction of the new district hospital later this year, “as part of public investments aimed at strengthening social services, improving mobility and boosting local development.”

“While the hospital is not built, these ambulances will be very helpful in transporting patients from the administrative posts to the village and from there to Cuamba district. We also launched public tenders to build Cuamba-Mecanhelas road. This year we will start the works”, he said.

The President explained that the delivered ambulances will reduce the problems that communities have been facing in transporting patients, especially pregnant women and critically ill patients from administrative posts and remote locations.

He also encouraged increased agricultural production, saying that “crops such as rice, soybeans, sesame, beans, cashew nuts, and macadamia nuts are fundamental to combating poverty and generating family income.”

“Wealth is in the countryside. We produce more to combat poverty and face the rising cost of living”, he said.

NL/Am/