Frelimo CC elects 5 new members to 6 unexpected vacancies & SG Machava stays

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Frelimo CC elects 5 new members to 6 unexpected vacancies & SG Machava stays

4:43 CAT | 05 Feb 2016

Folha de Maputo / Eliseu Machava Secretary General of Frelimo party.

The Central Committee of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party on Friday elected five new members to the Party’s Secretariat.

Since there were only five candidates, and six vacancies, all five were elected. Chakil Aboobakar, the administrator of the northern district of Monapo, topped the poll with 174 votes, followed by Agostinho Trinta, governor of the southern province of Inhambane with 172 votes.

The other candidates were Antonio Niquice (169 votes), Helena Muando (159) and Esperanca Bias (153). 206 full members of the Central Committee, with voting rights, attended the meeting, held in the southern city of Matola.

Initially it was thought that there would only be four vacancies, since four Frelimo parliamentarians were leaving the secretariat, in compliance with a Party directive that nobody can be a member of a Frelimo executive body and a member of the country’s parliament at the same time.

Those who left the Secretariat were the Secretary for Organisation, Sergio Pantie, the Secretary for the Economic Area, Edson Macuacua, the Secretary for the Party’s Social Organisations, Carlos Moreira Vasco, and the Secretary for Mobilisation and Propaganda, Damiao Jose.

Unexpectedly, two other members of the Secretariat resigned, in order to concentrate on their government positions, although the directive did not specifically outlaw holding a government and a secretariat position at the same time.

These two were the Secretary for Parliamentary and Municipal Affairs, Carmelita Namashalua (who is Minister of State Administration), and the Secretary for Training and Cadres, Amelia Nakhare (who is head of the Mozambique Tax Authority).

Damiao Jose, in one of his final appearances as spokesperson for the Central Committee, told reporters that a future session of the Committee will decide whether to fill the sixth vacancy or simply to operate with a smaller Secretariat.

Contrary to confident predictions in some of the press, no attempt was made to unseat General Secretary Eliseu Machava. Nobody sought to put election of a new general secretary on the agenda, and so Machava remains in the post.

Two other members of the old secretariat remain in position – the Secretary for External Relations, Aida Libombo, and the Secretary for Administration and Finance, Jose Tomo Psico.

Source: AIM