Araujo leaves office – but will soon be back

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Araujo leaves office – but will soon be back

11:02 CAT | 23 Jan 2019

Manuel de Araujo (in file CoM)

The mayor of the central Mozambican city of Quelimane, Manuel Araujo, left office on Monday – but he will be back within a couple of weeks.

The government sacked Araujo in August, because he had switched his political party allegiance. He was first elected mayor in a 2011 by-election, and then again in the nationwide municipal elections of 2013. On both occasions he ran as the candidate of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).

Quelimane MDM members wanted Araujo to run for a further term of office in the municipal elections scheduled for 10 October last year. But they were disappointed when he announced, not only that he had rejoined the former rebel movement Renamo, but that he would be the Renamo candidate for Mayor of Quelimane.

The Council of Ministers (Cabinet) justified its decision to sack Araujo on the basis of a clause in the 1997 law on administrative supervision of municipalities, which states that “office holders in municipalities shall lose their office if, after the elections, they join a party or list different from the one for which they presented themselves to the electorate”.

The law is quite unambiguous – yet Araujo appealed to the only body that could overturn the government decision, the Administrative Tribunal.

It was an open and shut case – but the Tribunal behaved with extraordinary lethargy, delaying a decision by almost three months. Had it reacted speedily, throwing Araujo’s appeal out in September, then he would have been unable to stand as a candidate in October.

The Tribunal’s delay allowed Araujo to stand and to win in October. The October results, for all 53 municipalities, were validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council, the highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law.

Since there can be no appeal against a Constitutional Council ruling, Araujo will be mayor of Quelimane from 2019 to 2024. That term of office begins in February.

On Monday, the chairperson of the Municipal Assembly, Domingos de Albuquerque, an MDM member, took over as interim mayor. Araujo did not resist, since Albuquerque will not be in office for more than two or three weeks.

According to the independent daily “O Pais”, Araujo took advantage of the ceremony to launch an attack on the Administrative Tribunal, accusing it of “assassinating the democratic rule of law”. But he was attending the ceremony “to demonstrate my patriotism and my commitment to the institutions of the rule of law”.

Albuquerque declared that lack of clarity about the financial situation of the Quelimane municipality would make it difficult for the Municipal Council to continue its services. He demanded that the outgoing mayor present the Council’s bank statements and information on its creditors, debtors, and any contracts under way.

The police prevented a group of Renamo members from attending the ceremony, fearing clashes between Renamo and the MDM. Because Renamo boycotted the 2013 municipal elections, the current Quelimane municipal assembly consists entirely of members of the MDM and of the ruling Frelimo Party.

MDM members of the Assembly complain that they have been receiving threats from Renamo.

Source: AIM