Mozambique: Celso Correia attributes alleged Frelimo ‘wings’ to “external pressures” – Lusa

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Mozambique: Celso Correia attributes alleged Frelimo ‘wings’ to “external pressures” – Lusa

11:28 CAT | 24 May 2021

Photo: Miramar

Mozambique’s Minister of Agriculture and Frelimo Central Committee member Celso Correia, on Saturday said the alleged existence of ‘wings’ within the party was the result of “external pressure”, expressing confidence in the organisation’s ability to deal with these situations.

“The party has its traditions, its structure and its history, and over time has shown it is able to deal with external pressures. It is with tranquillity that I look at that,” Celso Correia told reporters on the sidelines of the IV session of the Central Committee (CC) of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), which started today in Maputo.

Correia said he had confidence in the ability of the ruling party in Mozambique to renew itself in the face of each moment’s challenges, foreseeing yet another victory in the next elections.

“We celebrate our victories while already preparing for the next election, fulfilling our commitment to the electorate, to the Mozambican people and, above all, to our achievements,” he declared.

The Central Committee member maintained that the crises that the party and the country would face were normal in a process of building a country with more than 45 years of independence.

Several analysts have referred to the existence of ‘wings’ in Frelimo, personified by the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, and by his predecessor, Armando Guebuza, which have exacerbated the gap between groups in the party created by the ‘hidden debt’ scandal that resulted in the detention of persons close to the former president, including his son, Armando Ndambi Guebuza.

The ‘hidden debts’ scandal relates to loans worth US$2.2 billion (about €2 billion), contracted in 2013 and 2014 from the British branches of the investment banks Credit Suisse and VTB by Mozambican state-owned companies Proindicus, Ematum and MAM.

The loans were guaranteed by the Armando Guebuza government without being submitted to parliament or the Administrative Court for scrutiny.

At the weekend session of the Frelimo Central Committee in Matola, the first since the 2019 elections, the party analysed the reports of the Political Commission, Verification Committee and the 2018 Local and General Election Preparation Office of 2019.

CC members also evaluated the Party’s Budget Plan Proposal and reports from the Government’s Five-Year Plan (PQG) and the 2021 Social Economic Plan (PES).

The meeting had been postponed several times due to restrictions imposed in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.