PM praises decentralisation consensus – AIM report

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PM praises decentralisation consensus – AIM report

7:21 CAT | 20 Feb 2018

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Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, claimed that the consensus achieved between the government and the rebel movement Renamo in the dialogue over administrative decentralisation is valuable because it will hand over powers and resources to the provinces.

Speaking in the northern city of Lichinga, at an extraordinary meeting of the Niassa provincial government, at the start of a four day visit to the province, Rosario stressed that Mozambique will remain a unitary state, and that decentralisation will only make sense “if the country remains one and indivisible”.

“The consensus, which is now being looked at in depth in parliament, brings great gains to the country”, said the Prime Minister. “Yes, the provinces are decentralised, but Mozambique remains a single country”.

Rosario insisted that the effort made in decentralisation must be complemented by other actions, notably ending the circulation of firearms in the wrong hands.

“Weapons can only be in the hands of those to whom they are entrusted, namely the defence and security forces”, he said, “As the decentralisation package advances, the collection of these weapons must take place. We have to understand how the province is working so that nobody moves around with firearms, or even with weapons such as knives which in Lichinga are used to harm the public”.

Gangs known as “the machete men” have been terrorising Lichinga residents recently, and Rosario called on members of the public to give more support to the police in rooting them out.

“On their own, the police will not be successful in neutralising these people who live among us but who at night steal property with resort to machetes and firearms”, he said.

Rosario returned to the theme of “machete men” when he addressed a crowd in the Lione locality, where he visited work on the Lichinga-Cuamba road. The first stone for rebuilding this road was laid by President Filipe Nyusi in June 2017.

It was urgent to end the violent crime committed by the “machete men”, he declared. Machetes exist to clear bush and not to put at risk “the lives and effort of the public who, with their own sweat, want to build a prosperous future”.

Rosario urged the contractors working on the road to comply with the deadlines, and to ensure high quality work.

“Here we have a major building job that will take Niassa out of isolation”, he said.”Niassa will easily sell its production and bring from other corners of the country what it does not produce itself. Salt, cement, sugar and other goods will be acquired at cheap prices thanks to this road”.