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Most public spending restraint measures do not affect government members, leaders or top state officials in Mozambique
3:09 CAT | 09 Feb 2018
Photo: A Verdade
Current members of government, top state officials and civil servants will not be affected by measures to restrain public expenditure except for the limits imposed for the rental of housing, fuel and communications, the National Director of Institutional Coordination and Image of the Ministry of Economy and Finance has told @Verdade in an exclusive interview.
“[There is] Actually no retroactivity, the effect of this is [all] going forward,” he said.
@Verdade found that not all cars purchased by the state obeyed cylinder capacity limits, and that “Personnel Expenses” have increased more than 14 billion in the State Budget.
Decree 75/2017 was presented by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Adriano Maleiane, as “a very great effort to contain expenditure”. @Verdade analysed the document which approves measures to contain public expenditure and found that the aforementioned “effort” will little affect the senior officers of the state, holders of government positions, officials and agents of the state and members of the social organs of the active state business sector.
Article 18 ensures that “The acquired rights provided for in the legislation repealed by article 19 of this Decree are safeguarded”.
So the special 75 percent bonus awarded to college and university graduates in medicine and surgery, the 60 percent special bonus paid to experts and other graduates, the special 40 percent bonus awarded to bachelors, as well as the 30 percent bonus earned by mid-level technicians, nurses, skilled health technicians and middle-level teachers will continue to be paid to the state employees and agents who are already receiving them.
The location allowance paid to middle and higher-level state employees, as well as to others placed in a given territorial location, will also continue to be paid in the percentages defined by article 91/2009 to those who already have it as [an acquired] right.
Under Decree 75/2017, officials and state agents who currently receive the adaptation allowance will not lose them either.
Savings will only come from fuel for some cars and in communications expenses
The National Director of Institutional Coordination and Image of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Rogério Nkomo, exclusively confirmed to @Verdade that the measures of containment in force are not retroactive, “The effect of this is [only] going forward,” he said.
Nkomo told @Verdade that the 7.2 billion meticais that Minister Maleiane indicated would be saved by the decree actually refers to the money that the state will save through limits on fuel expenses and communication expenses.
The billions of meticais that the Minister of Economy and Finance has stated that the Government will save by imposing house rent limits or facilities payable to state officials and institutions will in fact only reflect in the 2019 State Budget, because Decree 75/2017 establishes a maximum period of 12 months for its implementation.
Moreover, these restraint measures do not even appear to be reflected in the 2018 General State Budget where “Personnel Expenditure” has increased to 92.3 billion meticais, 14 billion more compared than in 2017.
There is no limit on the vehicles for the holders of government positions or for cars of individual assignment
And the monthly limit on fuel expenses is only for individually assigned vehicles. All senior state officers, government officers, and most of the members of the corporate bodies of the state business sector are entitled to protocol vehicles, some more than one, and for these there is no limit on fuel expense.
In addition, most of the state institutions do not even use by public petrol stations, so who can guarantees that the boss’s individually assigned car will not also be filled up?
In addition, Decree 75/2017 only imposes a cylinder capacity limit for the protocol vehicles of the senior officers of state. There is no limit on the cars acquired for the ‘holders of governing positions’ or on the cylinder capacity for individual cars.
New criteria for adaptation allowance and professional career change
What is guaranteed is that state officials and agents who take on new leadership and managerial positions, who are placed in the districts, or who improve their educational qualifications will receive less remuneration than those who are currently active in the same position.
The special bonus reduced from 75 to 65 percent for undergraduate and graduate teachers in medicine and surgery, from 60 to 50 percent for specialists and other graduates, from 40 to 30 for bachelors, and from 30 to 20 percent for mid-level technicians, nurses, specialised health technicians and middle-level teachers. But it will be maintained unchanged for state employees and agents who are already receiving them.
The location allowance, which ranged from 10 to 50 percent, “is set at 15 percent of the career or grade based salary for all state employees and agents regardless of academic level and area of the territory where they are placed ” by the decree which came into force on 1 January.
The adaptation allowance, according to the criteria in force, Decree 75/2017 subjects its payment to employees “who have not completed 2 years from the last transfer” and clarifies that “the actual transfer is counted from the start date of activities in the body to which the official was transferred”.
With regard to the change of professional career, whose suspension President Filipe Nyusi even lifted in his State of the Nation report, article 12 of Decree 75/2017 subjects it to new factors, such as training in “in the current needs of the institution” and “existence of place in the establishment plan”.
Source: A Verdade
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