Transport minister agrees to annul memoranda

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Transport minister agrees to annul memoranda

9:51 CAT | 19 Oct 2017

File photo / Minister of Transport and Communications Carlos Mesquita

Mozambican Transport Minister Carlos Mesquita has accepted the decision by the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) that the memoranda of understanding he signed in 2016 with the companies Cornelder-Mocambique and Cornelder-Quelimane should be annulled, reports the independent television station STV.

The two companies hold the leases on the ports of Beira and Quelimane, and the two memoranda concerned the use of the ports to revive coastal transport.

But at the time the two memoranda were signed, in July 2016, the chairperson of both companies was the Minister’s brother, Adelino Mesquita. That Mesquita was signing agreements with his own brother seemed an obvious violation of clauses on conflicts of interest in the Law on Public Probity.

The Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC) asked for an opinion from the Central Public Ethics Commission (CCEP), the body which guards against conflicts of interest. The CCEP decided that there was indeed a conflict of interest and sent its finding to the GCCC earlier this year.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mesquita said he would respect the PGR decision, and thus the 2016 contracts would be annulled. He said he had cooperated fully with the legal authorities, and had provided all the documentation requested.

Mesquita added that he had acted transparently and nobody had suggested there was anything criminal in his behaviour.

The two agreements are limited in scope, covering only coastal traffic, and had not been implemented. The PGR ruling does not cover the original leases on Beira and Quelimane ports, which were signed before Mesquita became a Minister (he was, in fact, chairperson of the two companies, and his brother took his place when he joined the government in January 2015).

Although Adelino Mesquita died in a plane crash in March, the two memoranda will still be annulled. However, new contracts of the same nature will be signed, in a matter of days, by a different member of the government.

Mesquita stressed that his Ministry will continue its attempts to revive coastal shipping, which allows economies of scale, and could allow industrialisation of the areas where secondary and tertiary ports are located.

The agreements which the Mesquita brothers signed sought to make coastal shipping a priority for the ports, and would have reduced the port fees paid by this shipping by 60 per cent in Beira and 50 per cent in Quelimane. There would also be a 50 per cent cut in fees charged in Maputo and Nacala ports, but these are not run by Cornelder.

The spokesperson for the CCEP, Alfredo Gamito, said there was no reason to hold Mesquita criminally responsible. No damage had been done to the state by the 2016 agreements, which had not even been implemented.

“There are no other consequences”, he said. “The contracts should indeed be annulled, but there are no problems with assets at stake”.

Gamito added that the Minister could have broken the Law on Public Probity out of inexperience. “We don’t believe there was any ill-will or any personal interest of the Minister”, he said.

Mozambique’s main anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), is much less forgiving. Its general director, Adriano Nuvunga, told reporters on Tuesday that Mesquita should be held responsible, and should leave the government.

Nuvunga believed that criminal proceedings would be in order, since this is not the only case in which Mesquita has broken the Law on Public Probity. A second case involves a government body, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC), which awarded the company Transportes Mesquita, a contract for transporting goods to areas affected by disasters. Mesquita is one of the owners of this company.

Source: AIM