Mozambique Elections: Trial begins for 17 young people detained in connection with Renamo march in ...
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Mozambican philosopher Severino Ngoenha said on Saturday that the “agitation” within the three main Mozambican political parties reveals a lack of orientation and goals, and that the country would continue to lack political alternatives.
“What is happening at the moment is lack of a clear orientation in the political line of the parties. Even less clear is what they intend to do,” Severino Ngoenha said in an interview with Lusa.
In recent weeks, influential Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) members Manuel de Araújo and Venâncio Mondlane have announced their departure from the party, to then be nominated as Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) candidates in the October elections.
Ngoenha says the defection of Manuel de Araújo and Venâncio Mondlane to Renamo may rejuvenate the political wing of the country’s largest opposition party, but may at the same time may create discontent on the part of those who considered themselves candidates for these positions.
“Those members who are practicing politics in Renamo in Maputo have been removed to make way for outsiders, and this cannot happen without leaving traces of bitterness. There are people in the party who may have been overlooked or prevented from occupying prime places in the political life of the party,” the rector of the Technical University of Mozambique [Universidade Técnica de Moçambique] added.
The Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo), the ruling party in Mozambique, is also going through a “confusing” moment in Maputo, with the controversy over the unexplained exclusion of Samora Machel Junior from the race for the top-ranked candidature [head of list] generating internal friction.
“We are in a situation of total confusion, which begins within the parties themselves, and when this is the case, the possibility of a return to conflict is greater, and has been for years,” Ngoenha notes.
In his analysis of the Mozambican political landscape, Ngoenha understands that the country will continue to lack political alternatives, with the absence of left-wing parties in the country raising the problem of a lack of a clear definition of objectives.
“Everyone says they want development in Mozambique, but what we want to know is what they want to do for Mozambique. They have to show us political programmes with clear orientation,” he said.
Analysing the recent revision of the Constitution of the Republic in favour of deeper decentralisation, the Mozambican philosopher warns against the exclusion of other segments of society, noting that the country’s reconciliation cannot be limited only to Frelimo and Renamo.
“The biggest victims of the crisis between these two forces have always been the populations, and the national reconciliation process as a consequence must involve a lot more social players. I talking about communities, political parties and other players,” the academic says.
“It does not seem to me that it would be very difficult to fashion a broader reconciliation process and in this process build a constitution that was favourable not only to Frelimo and Renamo, but in which all Mozambicans would recognise themselves,” Ngoenha concluded.
On June 19, the Assembly of the Republic of Mozambique revised the constitution in favour of greater decentralisation, within the scope of the peace negotiations ongoing between Frelimo and Renamo.
The revision creates legal conditions for the holding of municipal elections, scheduled for October 10 this year.
Mozambique recently experienced a political crisis marked by military confrontations between the government and the main opposition party’s combatants. Renamo claimed victory in the 2014 general elections, accusing Frelimo of ballot fraud.
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