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The Nampula Provincial Court, in northern Mozambique, on Friday acquitted seven employees of Nampula Municipal Council who had been charged with stealing about three million meticais (50,000 US dollars, at current exchange rates) from the Council’s Single Attendance Counter (BAU).
This is a facility where citizens can deal, in one and the same place, with all the institutions involved in issuing with licences and permits. The Mayor of Nampula, Mahamudo Amurane, denounced the disappearance of large sums of money from the BAU to the Provincial Anti-Corruption Office. Warrants were issued for the arrest of 11 people, but only seven could be found.
Much to the anger of Amurane, the court acquitted the seven defendants, despite the fact that several had confessed. The Nampula judge, Hilario Muivela, said that confessions are not enough, and claimed that the Nampula municipality had not presented evidence of the forging or omission of receipts by the accused.
Interviewed by the independent television station STV, Amurane said he was disappointed by the verdict, since he regarded the evidence against the seven as compelling. He described the outcome of the trial as “a disgrace”, but was pleased that the prosecution has announced its intention to appeal.
Amurane’s fight against corruption has brought him into conflict with his political party, the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), and ever since the BAU case hit the headlines in February, the rift between Amurane and the MDM has widened.
Relatives of the BAU accused, some claiming to be MDM members, have accused Amurane himself of corruption, alleging that he used Nampula municipal funds to buy a house in Portugal, where his children are studying, an allegation which the mayor has strongly denied.
Interviewed in the latest edition of the independent weekly “Savana”, Amurane said “they all accuse me of corruption, but they don’t present evidence. This is defamation”.
He claimed that members of the MDM leadership “want to drag me into practices that are contrary to the principles of public administration, but I rejected this”.
The head of the MDM Youth League, Sande Carmona, had even called him “a bandit”, and he believed this was because he had refused to allow municipal funds to be used to back a project for a music recording studio presented by Carmona and one of his friends.
Amurane said land had been identified for the studio, and the municipality could find other plots of land for any family displaced by the project – but Carmona and his friend would have to pay for the resettlement and pay municipal fees. A memorandum was signed, but a year later the project has not moved forward an inch.
“In reality what Carmona wanted was for the municipality to move people, build houses and resettle them, and he would get the land at no cost to his friend”, accused Amurane. “We didn’t accept that”.
“People say I have problems with the party”, continued the mayor. “That’s not true. I’m just against certain practices within the party. At no time will I accept that the taxes paid by the citizens of Nampula can be used to feed individual appetites”.
Amurane regarded the MDM leader, and mayor of Beira, Daviz Simango, as “a dictator”, with his own “personality cult”. He found it hypocritical for Simango to criticise the ruling Frelimo Party to hold power for 40 years, when he shows no sign of stepping down as Mayor of Beira, By 2018, and the next municipal elections, he will have been in that post for 15 years.
“He’s going to run for mayor again, and he also wants to remain as president of the MDM and stand for President of the Republic”, Amurane accused. He claimed that in the 2014 parliamentary elections, Simango handpicked the MDM candidates and, despite opposition from within the party, insisted that his brother, Lutero, would head the MDM parliamentary group.
Amurane declared that in next year’s elections, he will run for a second term as mayor, with or without the MDM’s support. “The people of Nampula can count on me as a candidate”, he told “Savana”.
Asked which political forces other than the MDM would support him, he replied “I’m not worried about that, because the Nampula public is pleased with my work. Right now, in all of Mozambique, Mahamudo Amurane is the best manager of public assets”.
“The work I am doing, in improving the living conditions of Nampula citizens, will determine my support”, he added.
Amurane remains a member of the MDM and of its National Council, and said he has no intention of resigning. He wanted Simango to make the divorce official. “Let the president of the party announce that I am no longer in the MDM”, he said.
“I am not going to abandon my principles. I am not intimidated”, the Mayor added.
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