Joint Commission does not replace legally established bodies – AIM report

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Joint Commission does not replace legally established bodies – AIM report

7:51 CAT | 05 Oct 2016

Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party has praised the role played by the Joint Commission established between the government and the Renamo rebels, but has warned that it cannot replace legally established bodies such as the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the second day of a Frelimo National Cadre Conference, the Party’s spokesperson, Antonio Niquice, said Frelimo believes that the Joint Commission will soon create the conditions required for a face to face meeting between President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama.

But this could in no way replace the role played by legally established bodies, such as the Assembly, which must validate any proposals which emerge from the government-Renamo dialogue.

“We cannot replace the legal bodies because these are great gains in a state under the rule of law such as ours”, said Niquice.

He told the journalists that in its first two days of work the Cadre Conference had concentrated on questions of peace and decentralization. The Conference is closed to the press, and so reporters are dependent on briefings from Niquice, and interviews with any other delegates willing to speak to the media.

“The atmosphere in the debates is very open, characterized by a great deal of criticism and unity”, Niquice claimed. “The contributions are rich, and seek to ensure that the ideals of Frelimo are permanently valued”.

He stressed that Frelimo is “a party of transformations”, which has the deepening of decentralisation at its epicentre. He pointed out that it was Frelimo which had begun the decentralization of the Mozambican state, “and we understand the need to deepen this process, but always bearing in mind that Mozambique is a unitary state”.

As for President Filipe Nyusi’s opening speech to the conference on Saturday, in which he stressed that Frelimo has a duty to restore peace “but not at any price”, Niquice said this “expresses the feelings of Mozambicans. The people want lasting and effective peace, but they cannot be the object of any type of blackmail”.

“The Mozambican people do not want to see the country’s development mortgaged by the imperatives of a group of individuals who, at any cost, believe they have to govern, even without the trust of the people”, he added. Niquice was referring to Renamo, which is demanding the right to rule six central and northern provinces.

Source: AIM