Listen: Spending millions on the reintegration of former deputies and government officials “is legalized theft” – Adriano Nuvunga

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Listen: Spending millions on the reintegration of former deputies and government officials “is legalized theft” – Adriano Nuvunga

2:05 CAT | 26 May 2020

File photo: Voa Portugues

Reintegration allowance for former deputies and government officials will cost the Mozambican state more than US$10 million, and civil society has pledged to have them declared unconstitutional.

Adriano Nuvunga, a researcher and director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), says that the reintegration subsidies for former deputies and government officials represent “legalised theft”.

“This is legalised theft. It shows Mozambican society that the state is being plundered,” the activist says.

Approval for the subsidies comes at a time when negotiations for the review of minimum wages were suspended because of Covid-19.

“How is it possible to suspend the increase in the minimum wage for workers, for those who generate income, for the people who are the boss of the president, while they increase [revenue] for themselves?” Nuvunga asks.

“We are requesting that the legal provision that allowed this to happen to be declared unconstitutional.”

“In the case of deputies, there is not even a legal framework [for the allowances]. Any integration allowance does not have to be a bonus, but must result from contributions that the deputies made themselves,” he adds.

Deputies defend the subsidy

Assembly of the Republic deputies however consider the allowances perfectly legal.

“These subsidies are in a rubric that is called general state charges, and [they are attributed] to all those who are entitled by law, including the head of the administrative post, district administrators, governors, ministers and so on,” Frelimo MP Feliz Silvia explains.

Renamo’s António Muchanga, in turn, points out: “In 2009, when I stopped being a deputy, I received a reintegration allowance, in 2010. It’s not a new thing.”

MDM deputy Silvério Ronguana says this is a golden opportunity to discuss the country’s wage pyramid.

“Mozambicans are no longer satisfied with the wage pyramid. It is necessary to discuss the pyramid; to discuss the issue of careers and remuneration, not only in the government and in the Assembly of the Republic. It is necessary to discuss the privileges and perks,” he says.

Source: Voa Portugues