President’s announcement on decentralisation is a victory for all – Renamo

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President’s announcement on decentralisation is a victory for all – Renamo

11:46 CAT | 08 Feb 2018

The Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) has called the consensus reached in the peace negotiations with the government and announced yesterday by the president, Filipe Nyusi, a ‘victory for all’.

“Fortunately, today, we all win, both Frelimo and Renamo, in short, Mozambican democracy,” Renamo spokesman José Manteigas said in Quelimane, in the centre of the country, quoted by the Mozambican Information Agency.

President Nyusi announced yesterday that he would send a proposal for a revision of the constitution to the Assembly of the Republic after consensus was reached in peace negotiations with Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.

The proposed revision provides that provincial governors and district administrators are no longer appointed by the central authority, but will be proposed to the head of state and to the ministry in charge, in the case of districts, by the winners of elections to the assemblies at provincial and district levels.

manteigas.renamo.op(1) — *Renamo’s José Manteigas speaking on behalf of Afonso Dhlakama*

The discussion on decentralisation has been going on for a long time, after Renamo refused to accept the results of the general elections of 2014, demanding that it to govern in six provinces where it claimed victory in the polls.

“On behalf of Renamo and its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, I want to confirm publicly that the communiqué of the President of the Republic corresponds to what is in fact the consensus in the dialogue between the parties at the negotiating table,” Manteigas said.

“Our greater perspective has always been to have a process of decentralisation in the country and, as the President of the Republic said, from the next general elections the governors will be elected through the provincial assemblies,” he concluded.

The direct contacts between Filipe Nyusi and the Renamo leader were resumed in December 2016 with a ceasefire that ended armed clashes in the centre of the country, and a year ago the two leaders agreed to create two commissions, one on decentralisation and another on military matters in the context of the peace negotiations.

Consensus is also being reached on military matters, including “the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of Renamo personnel,” President Nyusi said, adding that news on these matters would be announced soon.

“A spirit of trust, openness and cooperation with the Renamo leader continues to prevail in this process,” the head of state said, thanking Dhlakama “for his collaborative role in this common vision which makes dialogue and the search for peaceful solutions to political problems a priority”.

Source: Lusa