Bar Association demands full details of Mozambique’s debt

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Bar Association demands full details of Mozambique’s debt

8:47 CAT | 25 Apr 2016

The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) has added its voice to those demanding that the government release the full details of the country’s public debt, following the revelation that over a billion dollars worth of government guaranteed debt was not disclosed, either to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or to the Mozambican taxpayers.

A statement from the OAM Human Rights Commission condemned the government’s “lack of transparency” in contracting these debts. It pointed out that the projects financed by the debts are not included in the official list of priority projects in the government’s own Integrated Investment Plan. Furthermore, the state guarantees for the loans exceeded the limit for such guarantees stipulated in the budget law.

The OAM accused the government of going beyond the powers granted to it by the Constitution, and acting in “flagrant disrespect” for the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. In addition to violating the budget law, it had hidden the very existence of large public debts, and the OAM believed that this constituted the crime of abuse of office.

The OAM regretted that the majority in the Assembly had rejected the demand by opposition deputies for the government to appear before the Assembly and explain the undisclosed debts. This was a “denial of the right to information, which is a fundamental right, on a matter of urgent public interest”.

It called on the government “in the name of transparency, legality and integrity in the management of public assets, as well as respect for constitutional norms, to provide urgently, through the adequate channels, the due explanations to the people about the real public debt, its purpose, pertinence and sustainability”. In doing so, the government would be taking seriously “its job of guaranteeing the administration of the public interest and of promoting the welfare of citizens”.

The OAM encouraged the government “to continue its efforts to re-establish the image, credibility and public trust in the country among its development cooperation partners”.

It called on the relevant authorities, particularly parliament and the Attorney-General’s Office, “to promote activities to restore the legality that has been violated and to hold the agents involved responsible”.

Source: AIM