More on Public prosecutor summoning Nampula interim Mayor – AIM

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More on Public prosecutor summoning Nampula interim Mayor – AIM

7:36 CAT | 30 Oct 2017

The public prosecutor’s office in the northern Mozambican city of Nampula has issued a summons to the city’s interim mayor, Manuel Tocova, following his illegal dismissal of city councillors and his appointment of others to replace them.

Contacted by the independent newssheet “Mediadax” on Thursday, Tocova confirmed he had received the summons, but said he had no intention of rescinding the appointments.

“What’s at stake are political questions. They want to intimidate me”, claimed Tocova. “I am not going to retreat. I shall work normally until the municipal by-election”.

Tocova is the chairperson of the elected Municipal Assembly. When Nampula mayor Mahamudo Amurane was assassinated on 4 October, he automatically became interim mayor.

Both Tocova and Amurane were members of the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM). But Amurane fell out with his party in a bitter dispute earlier this year, and accused the MDM of wanting to use municipal assets for political party purposes.

Mozambique’s municipal legislation limits the powers of interim mayors. In the period between the death of a mayor and the succeeding by-election, the interim mayor may only carry out day-to-day management tasks. He may not carry out sweeping changes in the composition of the municipal council.

Last week, the Nampula prosecutor’s office reminded Tocova of this, and instructed him to rescind the new appointments and reinstate the councillors he had sacked. But instead of obeying, Tocova on Monday swore the new councillors into office.

Also Read: Man who defied his destiny assassinated on the Day of Peace – @Verdade

Interviewed in Friday’s issue of the independent weekly “Savana”, Tocova said he had to sack the councillors who had worked with Amurane, because they were disobeying him and “sabotaging” his work.

“How can I stay with people who don’t want to collaborate with me?”, he asked. “When I asked why they don’t want to collaborate with me, the answer was they can’t work with the chairperson of the Municipal Assembly because he’s from the MDM, and the MDM is the party that killed Amurane”.

As for sabotage, Tocova said the councillors were refusing to give him essential items he needed to run the city, such as fuel for the garbage collection trucks.

He claimed that the public prosecutor’s office had no right to interfere with his work – it should instead have collected information on the situation in Nampula and submitted it to the Administrative Tribunal, which he regarded as the only body entitled to take decisions on administrative matters.

Asked whether all the new councillors are from the MDM, Tocova said that some came from society civil. He admitted that some had been councillors previously, but Amurane had sacked them.

“Mahamudo Amurane told them, if you belong to the MDM, you’re out of the municipality”, he said. “They’re people with qualities and skills, so why can’t they come back?” (In fact, Amurane is known to have sacked some of them for alleged involvement in acts of corruption).

Tocova used to be a member of the rebel movement Renamo. He was a Renamo fighter during the war of destabilisation, and was demobilised after the 1992 peace agreement. He only joined the MDM on the eve of the 2013 municipal elections, after Renamo had announced that it was boycotting the elections.

Source: AIM