Assembly ratifies extension to state of emergency

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Assembly ratifies extension to state of emergency

8:04 CAT | 01 Jun 2020

Photo: O País

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Friday ratified the decree from President Filipe Nyusi extending the state of emergency for a further month.

The state of emergency gives legal cover to the restrictive measures imposed by the government to halt the spread of the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease. It was declared on 1 April for 30 days, and then extended by a further month to 30 May. The new extension will last until 29 June.

The Assembly ratified the Presidential decree unanimously, with the two opposition parties, Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) voting alongside the ruling Frelimo Party.

The head of the Frelimo parliamentary group, Sergio Pantie, expressed concern that many citizens are still failing to take preventive measures against Covid-19. In particularly, they are ignoring the government’s appeals to stay at home, and are moving around in public without face masks. Pantie noted that crowds of people can still be observed who not observing any measures of social distancing. He believed that this is contributing to the spread of Covid-19 across the country.

He urged all segments of society to take seriously the threat posed by Covid-19, and not try to play the crisis for political advantage.

“The greatest proof of our compassion towards our neighbours is strict compliance with the recommended preventive measures”, he said. “We regret that there are people who are trying to draw political advantage from the situation, at a moment that requires great responsibility in disseminating the message of prevention against Covid -19”.

Pantie stressed that efforts must be made to prevent the country from entering the phase of ”community transmission” of the coronavirus, when the disease slips out of control, and the large number of cases could threaten the collapse of the national health system.

For her part, Renamo deputy Angelina Enoque described the pandemic as “a dangerous and invisible enemy which has taken the country and the world by surprise”.

She claimed that the measures taken by the government were just a way of asking for money from the donor community, and accused the police of opting for coercion rather than educating the public.

Enoque wanted universal testing to assess the real number of infected people – although the Ministry of Health has rejected this as unrealistic and a waste of scarce resources.

MDM deputy Silverio Ronguane said that, although the emergency measures imply a great deal of sacrifice, “there is no other path forward but to ratify the presidential decree”.

He urged Mozambicans “to put aside political differences” and put the saving of lives above all else.

Mozambicans all enjoy the same rights, Ronguane said, and the Covid-19 pandemic has shown that the health system should be designed to consider all citizens, regardless of their social status.

Immediately after the assembly had ratified the decree, Nyusi promulgated it, and sent it for publication in the official gazette, the “Boletim da Republica”.

Source: AIM