Mozambican analysts congratulate Constitutional Council on Ematum ruling

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Mozambican analysts congratulate Constitutional Council on Ematum ruling

2:03 CAT | 05 Jun 2019

For the Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO), which has been leading Mozambican civil society and international petitions against the country’s ‘hidden debts’, the Constitutional Council decision is historic. [The full ruling, in Portuguese, is HERE.]

Adriano Nuvunga

Social activist

“The decision once made has legal consequences. The most interesting thing is that this … affects every Ematum decision of the Mozambican state. All administrative acts taken by the Government, including the payments it has made, are void.

“Meanwhile, all this has to go back to the state … for the Mozambican people. Immediately, efforts must be made to restructure this debt. There is a responsibility here for those who have taken this Ematum decision.”

Filimão Suaze

Political analyst

“When we speak of separation of powers and their interdependence, it is precisely what we have just observed with that ruling. Contrary to the insinuations of some people, it givesthe material proof that in Mozambique this principle of separation and interdependence of power prevails.”

For the political analyst, the Constitutional Council acted according to the principles of the rule of law.

Rodrigo Rocha

Jurist

“The State is prevented from fulfilling any obligation”. So much so that it cannot proceed with the payment of the bonds of that debt. In view of this decision of the Constitutional Council, the registration of the Ematum debt in the State General Account and all other administrative acts of the State is void.

Bernice Namburete

FMO

“The decision of the Constitutional Council means a great victory for Mozambican citizens and civil society, and above all for the 2,000 Mozambican citizens who courageously signed the petition, confident that the Council would listen.

“This is decision responds to the FMO expectations of having not only the debts of Ematum, but also of Proindicus and MAM inspected, and it was expected that they would be declared void, as they now have. For the FMO, it is extremely important, as we realise that any act associated with this Ematum debt should be considered illegal. ”

Jorge Matine

FMO

“What is most important is a culture that the agents of the State and those who represent us make contracts on behalf of the State in a legal way, and that the question of safeguarding the public good is the guiding principle of the exercise of State. I think that this decision draws the attention of current public officials to their future actions, in we as Mozambicans will not take responsibility for acts they take in an illegal way .”

Source: O País