Mozambican parliament rejects civil society petition on hidden debts

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Mozambican parliament rejects civil society petition on hidden debts

1:11 CAT | 06 Sep 2017

DW (File photo)

A request to declare the unconstitutionality of the resolution approving the 2014 General State Account was rejected on Tuesday (05-09) by parliament’s Standing Committee, on the votes of the ruling party, the Liberation Front of Mozambique (Frelimo).

The petition, supported by two thousand signatures, was lodged with the Constitutional Council in July by the Budget Monitoring Forum, a civil society platform.

According to Permanent Commission spokesman Mateus Katupha, “there is no unconstitutionality, if only because this is a resolution, which is not subject to inspection by the Constitutional Council”.

The opposition Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) voted in favour of the petition, arguing that the State General Account includes an illegal and unconstitutional debt of $850 million contracted by the Mozambican Tuna Company (Ematum), a loan which cannot be imputed to Mozambicans in general.

“The Government has a priori endorsed this debt, against the Constitution and without the authorisation of the Assembly of the Republic,” Renamo’s José Manteigas said in an interview with DW.

The value of the guarantees is higher than that established by law. In addition, there is no reference to the guarantees in the General State Account for 2013, the year in which the debt was incurred, he noted.

Importance of civil society

Manteigas sees this as a usurpation of power, since the executive has no authority to authorise a loan of that amount, and praises the civil society initiative.

“By positioning itself as it does, civil society is playing an extremely important role as a fiscal monitor of the public good,” he says.

The opinion of the Permanent Commission will now be forwarded to the Constitutional Council, which will to deliberate on the matter.

Source: Deutsche Welle