Mozambique: Delays persist in the allocation of funds to municipalities – O País

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Mozambique: Delays persist in the allocation of funds to municipalities – O País

7:46 CAT | 09 Dec 2021

Photo: Conselho Municipal da Cidade da Matola

The country’s municipalities continue to feel the negative consequences of the delays in the provision of investment and compensation funds by central government. These delays, registered since last year, are affecting the improvement of infrastructure. This information was shared at the opening of the National Council of Local Authorities on Tuesday.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, in March, 2020, affected the functioning of several sectors, resulting in delays in the disbursement of the money to municipalities, a situation that is worrying the mayors meeting in Maputo on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Mayors speak of constraints on improving infrastructure such as electricity, water supply and maintenance of public roads.

To deal with this situation, municipalities have used their own assets, resorting to revenues they have collected themselves, but they are afraid of slipping into incapacity.

“Xai-Xai municipality has suffered cuts of up to 45 percent in the investment and compensation fund, and this has had an impact on our programme of activities,” mayor of Xai-Xai Emídio Xavier said.

Concerns are common to all municipalities, and the city of Nampula is no exception, its mayor Paulo Vahanle added.

“We plan activities on the basis of these funds and, when they are delayed, we end up using the municipalities’ own revenues to pay for services,” Vahanle said.

According to the president of the National Association of the Municipalities of Mozambique, Matola mayor Calisto Cossa, the challenge for the municipalities is to capitalise on their own collections to pay for municipal councils’ activities.

“It is important to realise that, as municipalities, we are experiencing the same difficulties that our country is facing. Of course, there should have been more speed in the processes, but now the idea is to broaden municipalities’ tax bases, without suffocating the residents,” said Cossa.

One of the objectives of the meeting, which ended this Wednesday, was to find ways to strengthen municipalities’ financial capacity, and also to discuss their agenda for next year.

By Precidonio Silverio

Source: O País