A backlash against democracy – MDM on decentralisation consensus

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A backlash against democracy – MDM on decentralisation consensus

12:26 CAT | 08 Feb 2018

O País / Daviz Simango

The president of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), Daviz Simango, believes that the decentralisation package announced by President Nyusi is a backlash against democracy and it contributes to party bipolarisation.

“We came to two main conclusions after hearing the president’s statement on decentralisation. The first is that this package is a backlash against democracy; it is an agreement to deceive the people, because we will be having presidents of municipal councils, administrators and governors that are not elected by popular vote. Therefore politicians will continue in an indirect way, as they please, to nominate and to impose on the people those who are to lead them.”

According to Simango, the agreement contributes to the creation of a single party, resulting from the union of the ruling party and the largest opposition party. “We also conclude that this is an agreement that contributes to bipolarisation and creating conditions so that “Frenamo” (a clear allusion to a supposed union between Frelimo and Renamo ) does not allow other political forces to be part of the governance process.”

The MDM leader believes that the people were not taken into account during the negotiations. “We understand that this agreement does not show the hand of the supposed boss, the people. It would be important for the two politicians to ask the Mozambican people if this is the system of governance they would like to have.”

The MDM says this is not the agreement that it hoped for, because it does not allow for the autonomy of provincial governments. “We did not find any working conditions for the provincial governments. They will naturally say that this system will be in its own legislation, but it is clear that we will have a governor only as a day-to-day manager, without political and economic powers. So this is not the kind of agreement that we expected, and in our opinion, thousands of Mozambicans will surely not agree to this type of arrangement. For us, the country is up for sale,” he concluded.

By Francisco Raiva

Source: O País