Mozambique: Assembly ratifies new state of emergency

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Mozambique: Assembly ratifies new state of emergency

4:53 CAT | 07 Aug 2020

Photo: O País

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Friday ratified the decree from President Filipe Nyusi establishing a new state of emergency, as the legal framework for continued restrictive measures intended to limit the spread of the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

The ratification motion was passed by 177 votes to 54. Deputies of the majority Frelimo Party and of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) voted in favour, while all the deputies from the main opposition party, Renamo, voted against.

AR Ratifica o Novo Estado de Emergência ,que entra em vigor a partir de amanhã ,em todo território nacional ,com 177 votos a Favor das Bancadas Parlamentares da FRELIMO e MDM, 54 Votos contra da Bancada Parlamentar da Renamo .

— ARM (@ParlamentoMoz) August 7, 2020

Frelimo deputy Telmina Pereira said her party was unconditionally in favour of the presidential decree because it sought to save Mozambican lives in the face of the threat posed by the pandemic.

The MDM also supported the decree, but criticised the way the government had handled the pandemic during the 120 days of the first state of emergency, which ran from 1 April to 29 July.

MDM deputy Fernando Bismarque said that any decision taken by the Assembly “should take into account the balance between the need to protect public health, and the need to reanimate the economy”.

Renamo said it opposed ratification, because it considered that a second state of emergency would violate the Mozambican constitution.

Renamo is far from alone in this belief. The issue has divided Mozambican jurists. The constitution says that a state of emergency can be decreed for 30 days, and then extended no more than three times, each for another 30 days. The first state of emergency took effect on 1 April, and the third extension expired 120 days later, on 29 July.

Nyusi waited a week before declaring a second state of emergency, which will take effect on Saturday, and last until midnight on 6 September. The constitution says nothing about whether two states of emergency can be declared in the same year.

The constitution’s phrasing is ambiguous enough for some legal minds to argue that a second state of emergency is not the same as a fourth extension of the original state of emergency.

Others believe the Constitution should not be re-interpreted merely to suit the needs of the moment. One of the country’s most prominent constitutionalists, Teodato Hunguana, who is an outspoken member of Frelimo, and a former judge on the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional law, said that declaring a second state of emergency “would be a great invention”. He believed the Constitution’s limits on extending a state of emergency were imposed by those who wrote the constitution precisely “to avoid the abuse of this mechanism, since it involves the suspension of fundamental rights”.

The Renamo parliamentary group’s favoured alternative to a state of emergency is the declaration of a state of public calamity. This would be based on existing legislation on disaster management.

The government, however, believes that the current legislation is not adequate to deal with pandemics. It has drafted a bill to strengthen the risk and disaster management system, which the Assembly is likely to discuss next week.

The new state of emergency takes effect at zero hours on Saturday, and will last until 23.59 on 6 September. It reaffirms all the existing preventive measures against Covid-19, including the obligatory use of masks in public places, social distancing (of at least 1.5 metres between people), the closure of bars and places of nocturnal entertainment, and a ban on political rallies, religious services, team sports events, concerts, and anything else that could attract crowds.

Gradual relaxation of some of these measures is envisaged, but only as from 18 August. As from that date, for example, religious services may resume, but with no more than 50 people in attendance. Classes in high education institutions may also resume on 18 August.

Source: AIM