PM promises new dam in Niassa – Mozambique Elections, AIM report

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PM promises new dam in Niassa – Mozambique Elections, AIM report

10:05 CAT | 02 Oct 2018

Rosario was in Niassa as head of the central brigade of the ruling Frelimo Party supporting its candidates in the municipal elections scheduled for 10 October. Photo: O País

Mozambican Prime minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario declared on Monday that the construction of a new dam on the Lucheringo river will stimulate the economic and social development of the northern province of Niassa.

Speaking at a meeting in the provincial capital, Lichinga, with state employees, Rosario said the dam would make enough drinking water available to supply 120,000 households.

It will take about a year and a half to build the dam, he said, and it would solve the current defective distribution of water in the Lichinga area.

“The construction of this dam in Niassa will help a lot of people”, he stressed, “particularly in supplying households with clean drinking water”.

He described the difficult situation the government had found itself in, when (in April 2016) the group of 14 donors who had once give direct support to the Mozambican state budget suspended all further disbursements. To this date, direct budget support has not yet resumed, and there is no sign that it will resume in the near future.

The difficult financial situation had led the government to take measures to cut public expenditure – but it had never ceased to pay wages to state employees. “We recognise your patriotism and your commitment to your day-to-day working activities”, Rosario told his audience.

The donors suspended budget support immediately after the full scale of the “hidden debts” scandal became public knowledge. This term refers to over two billion US dollars in loans contracted with the European banks Credit Suisse and VTB of Russia by three security related companies – Ematum (Mozambique Tuna Company), Proindicus and MAM (Mozambique Asset Management) – in 2013 and 2014.

The loans were illegally guaranteed by the previous government, under President Armando Guebuza, in violation of the budget law and of the Mozambican constitution. Donors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have made it clear that there will be no return to normal relations until there is a full explanation of what happened to the two billion dollars. An audit of the three companies in 2017 by the company Kroll Assoociates found that much of the money could not be accounted for, and the management of the three companies deliberately prevented the auditors from concluding their work.

Rosario was in Niassa as head of the central brigade of the ruling Frelimo Party supporting its candidates in the municipal elections scheduled for 10 October.

The Lichinga mayoral candidate for the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, Saide Fidel, promised on Monday that, if Renamo wins the election, it will expand health units to all neighbourhoods in the city, and will ensure the construction of technical and professional training institutes.

He also promised to create jobs by supporting small business which would employ the youth of the city.

Speaking to the Lulimile neighbourhood, Fidel denounced the Lichinga Municipal Council’s failure to collect and dispose of garbage. “When I ask if you’ve ever seen a tractor from the Municipal council collecting rubbish, you’ll say no”, he denounced. “You don’t even know who the mayor is. That’s why you should all vote for Renamo”.

Source: AIM