Mozambique: Civil society asks parliament to revoke employee subsidies – Watch

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Mozambique: Civil society asks parliament to revoke employee subsidies – Watch

7:47 CAT | 12 May 2021

Screen grab: Sala da Paz

Adriano Novunga spoke to the press moments after the Assembly of the Republic refused to accept a civil society petition against the approval of the law granting benefits to parliamentary agents and officials.

The Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO), a coalition of Mozambican civil society organizations, today demanded that the Assembly of the Republic “revoke” subsidies for officials and parliamentary agents, considering the benefits “an aggression” in the face of the country’s current difficulties.

The requirement is contained in a petition that the FMO coordinator, Adriano Nuvunga, submitted to the Assembly of the Republic (AR), a body that on Thursday will debate in detail the proposed Law on the Statute for Officials and Parliamentary Agents, which provides a series of perks for this professional class.

In the document, the FMO disputes, among other elements, the “dress allowance”, which provides for the payment of an amount yet to be defined to officials and parliamentary agents, for the purchase of clothing to be worn in “formal and protocular sessions”.

“We repudiate this subsidy, because we found no reason for the ‘House of the People’ to approve exaggerated and unnecessary perks, which only affront the dignity of the human person,” the petition says.

The FMO also attacks protocol, session, seniority, food and vacation allowances, pointing out that the parliamentary official and agents receive a salary that must cover the expenses provided for in those benefits.

The petitioners also contest the possibility of recourse to the private health service provided for in the statute, pointing out that this is a discriminatory privilege, since other State employees do not enjoy such a prerogative.

The FMO also rejects the budgetary impact of the proposal, which, according to Minister of Economy and Finance Adriano Maleiane will cost the equivalent of about €1.5 million.

Speaking to journalists after the submission of the petition, the FMO coordinator accused the AR of “nepotism” for allegedly “legislating perks” in favour of officials representing the interests of parliamentary benches, in the context of an economic crisis resulting from the pandemic and armed violence in Cabo Delgado.

“We challenged, in the first place, the perks that are being promoted disproportionately in a context of socioeconomic crisis and famine that the country is experiencing,” Adriano Nuvunga said.

Also read: Watch: Police disperse student demonstration in central Maputo – Lusa report

Today, thirty students responded to a call on social media for a demonstration in central Maputo against the new Statute for Parliamentary Official and Agents, and were dispersed by armed police.

Source: Lusa / Sala da Paz