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Members of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party have again accused the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) of murdering the mayor of the northern city of Nampula, Mahamudo Amurane.
Amurane was elected mayor in 2013 on the MDM ticket. But serious differences arose between Amurane and the MDM leadership, erupting into a public exchange of insults in 2017. In particular, Amurane accused the MDM of wanting to raid Nampula municipal coffers for party political purposes.
Amurane was shot dead by an unidentified killer on 4 October. To date nobody has been arrested for this crime. But that did not prevent several Frelimo members of the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, of publicly claiming that the murder was the responsibility of the MDM.
According to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, they have now been joined by the spokesperson for the Frelimo group in the Nampula Municipal Assembly, Alberto Adriano, who claimed the MDM was behind the cancellation of a special session of the Assembly called to pass a plan to provide municipal support to Amurane’s orphaned children.
Amurane left a widow and two young children. The proposal before the Municipal Assembly was that assistance should be provided for the education of the children until they reached the age of 22, since Amurane had been the only person paying for their schooling.
But the special session was abruptly cancelled, and Adriano believed that the MDM majority in the Nampula Assembly cancelled the meeting on express instructions from the MDM leader, Daviz Simango, mayor of Beira. He accused Simango of personal involvement in Amurane’s assassination.
“With this kind of behaviour we can understand that it was the President of the MDM who ordered the murder of the late mayor”, declared Adriano.
But there is a simpler, non-conspiratorial explanation. “Mediafax” says the session was cancelled because the deputy chairperson of the Assembly, who was due to chair the meeting, had fallen ill, and was rushed to Nampula Central Hospital for observation.
The MDM national spokesperson, Sande Carmona, told “Mediafax” that the accusations against Daviz Simango were just an attempt to damage his public image. He added that Simango does not interfere in the municipalities which are governed by the MDM.
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