ACIS says Maputo Municipal Police is not competent to inspect private vehicles

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ACIS says Maputo Municipal Police is not competent to inspect private vehicles

11:59 CAT | 17 Aug 2017

O País

Just days after the announcement that the Municipal Police will also oversee private vehicles and be able to require driving licenses, insurance policies and inspection seals on demand, the Association of Commerce, Industry and Services (ACIS) says that it is not within the competence of this police force to do such work.

Lawyer Álvaro Pinto Basto, who spoke on behalf of ACIS at a press conference called by the association yesterday and intended to clarify municipality functions, says that there may be a misinterpretation of paragraph 1 (d) referring to article 10 of the Road Code.

This paragraph states that the municipal police can supervise traffic, only within the municipality. “Item d) of number 01, referring to article 10 of the Road Code says: ‘The supervision of compliance with the provisions of the Road Code and other legislation on traffic is, without prejudice to other specially competent entities, within the municipalities competences on municipal roads, streets and paths’,” the lawyer said.

However, Pinto Basto points out that the [Government] Decree 35/2006 of September 6 creates the regulation and operation of the Municipal Police, and argues that, according to this document [subjecting all other laws, regulations and/or practice(s) involving the aforesaid police force], the municipality is not competent to inspect private vehicles.

Also Read: Maputo Municipal Police now conducting insurance and drivers licenses spot checks

“In the exercise of its functions, it is the responsibility of the Municipal Police to supervise the compliance with vehicle parking regulations and control of the compliance of road routes by semi-collective passenger transportation [Chapas], including the reporting of road accidents to PRM and the protection of the [accident] scene,” said the lawyer.

The ACIS therefore concludes that the inspections initiated by the Municipal Police in August exceed its powers. “We understand that, due to the way in which the problem was posed, and taking into account the legal decrees in force and the competences of the municipalities themselves and the attributions of the Municipal Police within the scope and under the terms in which it was created, traffic inspection falls outside of the competences attributed according to the decree of its creation,” the association’s representative said.

The lawyer claims that, based on decree 35/2006 of September 6, supervision by the Municipal Police should only be of matters within its areas of competence.

“It is in our opinion that the interpretation of the rule of article 10 of the Road Code allows for the supervision of traffic on the roads of the municipality, but this is not a total inspection. The inspection must be within the limitations of the municipal police’s own duties,” said the lawyer.

ACIS calls on the authorities to re-evaluate the decision. “The competent authorities will have to examine this matter in more depth. The ACIS intervention is in the sense of being able to help to think better about the problem that was created this week,” Pinto Basto concluded.

Source: O País