Covid-19: Religious leaders ask President of Mozambique to relax measures – Watch

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Covid-19: Religious leaders ask President of Mozambique to relax measures – Watch

3:21 CAT | 02 Jul 2020

Religious leaders are to ask President Nyusi to allow them to reopen churches, perhaps with a limit on the number of participants, in the context of the third extension of the state of emergency, which has seen the relaxation of some previous measures.

“We are going to address two themes, one being Covid-19. We will start by outlining the status in our country, how we have been managing this issue so far, and will end by commenting on the State of Emergency decree issued last week,” the president told the press about his meeting with religious leaders, accompanied by the minister overseeing the sector, Helena Kida.

Religious leaders called for a relaxation of the ban on services.

Speaking to journalists, Helena Kida explained that people of faith wanted the same treatment as in education, where classes are set to resume under certain conditions.

“What religious leaders propose is equal treatment with other activities that have already seen some relaxation. Part of this is to do with the need to limit, for example, the number of participants per event,” she explained, considering that limitations might take the space available into consideration, or set a maximum number regardless of space.

The government says it is necessary to think the matter through, but does not rule out the possibility of accepting the request.

“Tomorrow [Thursday] we will have a meeting between the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs and religious leaders to develop our notions, and perhaps we will be able to bring forth a specific proposal,” Minister Kida said.

Ministers of Education and of the Interior also participated in the meeting. Among the topics that were up for debate was the situation in Cabo Delgado and centre of the country, about which, however, there was no statement to the press after the meeting.

But in his previous adresss, seen in the video report below, President Nyusi said that the security situation in the north and centre of the country would be the other subject to be debated at yesterday’s meeting.

By José João