MDM garbage truck business smells bad to Frelimo – Mozambique

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

MDM garbage truck business smells bad to Frelimo – Mozambique

11:28 CAT | 05 Apr 2018

The Mozambican Liberation Front is accusing Beira municipality of having diverted money to buy two garbage trucks it later sent to Quelimane. The municipality says it has acted legally.

There is a war of words between the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo) and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) in Beira municipal assembly.

Earlier this week, Frelimo said it suspected that around nine-and-a-half million meticais (EUR 118,000) had been used in August 2017 to buy two garbage trucks which were then sent to Quelimane.

Frelimo says the acquisition was illegal because it did not undergo proper scrutiny in the municipal assembly. “The Municipal Council has acquired means of transportation to collect solid waste and they have been allocated to the city of Quelimane in a way that damages the management sensitivity of the municipality of Beira,” Manuel Severino, head of the Frelimo bench in Beira, said.

Daviz Simango, president of Beira Municipal Council, has already said that there has been no misuse of funds, clarifying that there is a twinning agreement between Beira and Quelimane municipalities.

Mosambik AscensÃ£o Chauchane — *Ascensao Chauchane remembers the agreement between Quelimane and Beira*

It was in this context that it was agreed that Beira Municipal Council would launch a tender for the acquisition of the trucks in question, plus another 12, all financed by the Municipal Development Programme (PRODEM).

This version of events is confirmed by Quelimane Municipal Council PRODEM coordinator, Ascension Chauchane.

“In addition to the acquisition of other equipment, the acquisition of garbage container carriers was also contemplated, since there is a settlement agreement between Quelimane and Beira municipalies,” he recalls.

The garbage of discord

Garbage remains, however, a source of discord in Beira. This Tuesday, Frelimo was accused by the municipality of spreading garbage along the city’s roads, resulting in a truck which was carrying the waste being seized.

Frelimo says it was just taking away rubbish that was bothering residents.

“What would have happened is that one of our members, because he could not live with waste inside his house, chose to dump it there,” Severino explained, noting that “it is a location that the Municipal Council has officially indicated as a place to deposit garbage”.

Source: Deutsche Welle