Mozambique: PM promises to “combat all manner of crimes”

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Mozambique: PM promises to “combat all manner of crimes”

9:32 CAT | 20 Nov 2020

File photo: Noticias

Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on Thursday assured deputies of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, that the government “will continue to combat all manner of crimes that undermine the development of our country”.

Winding up a two day question and answer session between the government and the deputies he repeated the pledge given on Wednesday that “we shall continue to strengthen the operational capacity of the defence and security forces so that they may continue the battle without quarter against terrorist actions, kidnappings and assassinations, among other crimes”.

“We must not lose sight of the fact that terrorism is a complex and global phenomenon, and it cannot be effectively prevented or fought against in an isolated manner”, said Rosario. “So we have been improving multilateral and bilateral cooperation mechanisms in SADC (Southern African Development Community), the African Union and the international community in the context of the fight against terrorism”.

He stressed that the government will continue humanitarian assistance “to mitigate the suffering of our fellow-countrymen affected by terrorism and by the armed attacks of the self-styled ‘Renamo Military Junta’ in the centre of the country”.

That, he continued, meant providing shelter, food aid and non-food aid for all those displaced by the conflicts, and providing them with safe areas where they can resume their lives as farmers.

Reacting to opposition concerns that the government is awarding contracts without tenders, Rosario said the government will, in general, award contracts for public works, and for the supply of goods and services, through public tenders – but in emergency situations, including the current Covid-19 pandemic, state institutions may resort to direct contracting. The law permits this as an exceptional form of contracting goods and services.

But the procedures used should always be “transparent and free of corruption”, the Prime Minister insisted. Anybody who committed acts of corruption, including over-invoicing “will face disciplinary and criminal proceedings”, he promised.

Source: AIM