Mozambique: Call for transparency in party financing

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Mozambique: Call for transparency in party financing

6:37 CAT | 27 May 2021

Photo: IMD

One of Mozambique’s most senior jurists, Flavio Menete, a former chairperson of the Bar Association (OAM), on Tuesday called for transparency in the financing of political parties, reports Wednesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”.

Parties may legally accept donations from private bodies, including foreign companies, but there is no obligation on them to publish the list of who is financing them, which raises suspicions.

Speaking at an induction seminar for new members of the National Elections Commission (CNE), Menete called for a proper debate on financing, so that Mozambique can think in the long term about what type of democracy it is trying to build. It should be clear, he warned, that private electoral financing does not come free of charge.

“They don’t have the due legitimacy to support the electoral process”, he said. “They put a lot of money into it, but nobody does this out of charity. Tomorrow they will come and demand their counterpart. The result is that the person who s governing, instead of thinking about his people, is arranging the accounts with those who financed his campaign”.

“This question of financing has to be analysed in great depth, but also with great calm, because it is not a simple matter”, said Menete.

The Abu Dhabi-based group, Privinvest, claims that it gave ten million dollars to the ruling Frelimo Party prior to the 2014 general elections. This payment was mentioned in 2019 during the trial in New York of Privinvest official, Jean Boustani, who admitted to a string of bribes and kickbacks to Mozambican officials and to managers of the bank Credit Suisse, involved in the illicit loans of over two billion dollars to three fraudulent companies. Frelimo has neither confirmed nor denied the Privinvest payment.

Menete also protested against restrictions imposed on election observers, as happened in the 2019 general elections. “We see last minute accreditation, when the observers have no chance to do anything, and there are some who are not accredited at all. So the question once again is: why are we afraid of observers?”

“People’s perception is that we have something to hide”, he added.

Menete also warning that, as the electorate grows in size, Mozambican elections will become ever more complex. He thought it was time to consider switching to electronic voting, reducing wherever possible the human presence in counting the votes.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is teaching us a lot”, he said. “Even the government has received equipment for holding meetings at a distance rather than face to face. This is the future of the world. We can’t turn our backs on it”.

Source: AIM