Mozambique Elections: MDM says Renamo has won in Matola - AIM
RFi
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday sharply criticized the “spirit of inertia” that he had found among leaders and staff of public institutions.
He was speaking after a visit to several institutions supervised by the Transport and Communications Ministry – namely Mozambique Airlines (LAM), the Maputo municipal bus company (EMTPM), the port of Maputo, and the telecommunications regulatory body, the Mozambique National communications Institute (INCM).
While he kept calm during most of the visits, at an ensuing extraordinary meeting of the Ministry’s Consultative Council, he attacked the “total lack of professional sensitivity”, of senior figures in charge of various transport areas, but who seemed unable to respond to today’s needs and challenges.
He was particularly disappointed with LAM, a company which has recently come under heavy attack from its passengers and from the media because of constant delays, rescheduling and cancellation of its flights.
Currently LAM has a fleet of ten passenger aircraft, three of which are operated by its subsidiary, Mex Tours. LAM itself works with seven aircraft – but currently only five of them are operational, covering both domestic and regional routes.
The other two planes are undergoing maintenance outside the country. The situation is slightly better than it was a fortnight ago, when only four planes were operational.
Nyusi strongly criticized the decision, taken by a previous LAM management, to diversify the fleet by purchasing aircraft made by various manufacturers. Thus, in addition to Boeings, LAM now uses aircraft from the Brazilian company Embraer, and the Canadian Bombardier Q-400.
“The measure taken by the company management to diversify the fleet has not helped in any way”, declared Nyusi. “On the contrary, it has worsened the problems LAM is going through. We don’t have access to spare parts because of the diversification”
If LAM’s aircraft came from just a single supplier, or at most two, “we would not have the problems of buying parts for different types of planes. This is not a matter of technology, but a commercial question”.
Furthermore, the diversity of planes led to a shortage of pilots, since pilots must be certified to fly each type of aircraft. “If we just had one or two brands of plane, then we wouldn’t have such a shortage of pilots”.
Although Nyusi did not mention it, the option to diversify the fleet was far from innocent, but resulted partly from corruption. Embraer, in court cases in Brazil and the United States, admitted to paying bribes in several countries, including Mozambique, in order to sell its planes. Embraer paid a bribe of 800,000 US dollars, at the demand of the former chairperson of LAM, Jose Viegas, and a second prominent business figure, Mateus Zimba, at the time the Mozambique representative of the South African company Sasol, acted as middleman. The Mozambican Attorney-General’s Office says it is investigating the case.
Nyusi was also angered by LAM’s boast that it is “the company of the flag” (i.e. the air company that flies the Mozambican flag). He said it makes no sense to talk of a “flag company” when its aircraft are not flying, but on the ground.
“Let’s break the myth that we are the company of the flag”, he urged. “What flag? We can continue to be a company with quality, without necessarily doing the things we do not master” – a clear hint that Nyusi would like to hand the management of LAM over to an outside concern (just as, for example, the Emirates airline took over the management of the Angolan airline TAAG).
Nyusi also found that LAM is grossly overmanned. He said there are about 700 support staff, for it small fleet. (The President may have underestimated the problem – the figures given to AIM are that LAM employs 909 people in all).
He called for a rationalization of the LAM work force, adding that it needs courage to take such measures.
Nyusi also called for competition in civil aviation, and claimed there are senior figures in the Transport Ministry “who find it difficult to let the competition flow. We don’t have planes flying, but we don’t let others fly. We say that our airspace is open, but we don’t say what this means”.
He urged the regulatory body, the Mozambique Civil Aviation Institute (IACM), to take a flexible approach to the entry of new companies into the domestic market. “You are closing the circuit so that things operate as they did in the past”, he accused. “The problems of transport result from this closure”.
Nyusi promised a “profound transformation” of LAM, but did not specify what form this might take.
Leave a Reply
Be the First to Comment!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.