MAPUTO, The opening of the first sitting of 2018 of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, here Wednesday saw both the ruling Frelimo Party, and the main opposition party, Renamo, welcoming their consensus on decentralisation which they reached after long drawn-out negotiations.
However, the third party in the Assembly, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), attacked the proposal to remove the right of citizens to directly elect their mayors in their municipalities.
The consensus, announced by President Filipe Nyusi on Feb 7, has now been drafted into a number of constitutional amendments which will be debated during this Assembly sitting although their passage, at least in their current form, is far from guaranteed.
Initially, the Assembly’s Commission on Constitutional and Legal Affairs was given 15 days to produce a written opinion on the amendments but the Commission’s chairperson, Edson Macuacua, has gone back to the Assembly’s governing board, its Standing Commission, to ask for more time.
The key change in the amendments is a shift of power into the hands of party machines. Up until now, mayors have been directly, elected alongside members of the Municipal Assembly. But the amendments propose electing only the Assembly members and whichever political party or group wins a majority of seats in the Assembly election will nominate the mayor.
There has never been any elected provincial governor or district administrators before, but the amendments propose a carbon copy of municipal elections for provinces and districts. Provincial and district assemblies will be elected, and then the winning party in each assembly chooses who becomes governor or administrator.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK