Mozambique: ‘Irresponsible’ to ask parliament to approve hidden debts – ex-president

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Mozambique: ‘Irresponsible’ to ask parliament to approve hidden debts – ex-president

5:50 CAT | 18 Feb 2022

File photo: TVM

Former President Armando Guebuza said in court on Friday that it would be “irresponsible” to ask parliament to approve the hidden debts, because Renamo, the main opposition party, was at war with the government and had MPs in parliament.

“Asking those who kill Mozambicans to accept that the Government should go and get more weapons, more resources to fight them, is not realistic, I would even say it would be irresponsible,” Guebuza stressed.

The former head of state was responding to a question from the Mozambique Bar Association (OAM), which is acting as an auxiliary to the prosecution, in the trial of the main case of the hidden debts.

He insisted that the Government needed military resources to confront Renamo guerrillas, and the capacity to defend national territorial waters against piracy and drug trafficking.

Armando Guebuza made an analogy between Renamo and the armed groups operating in Cabo Delgado province, pointing out that informing parliament about the hidden debts would be the same as communicating the government’s military strategy to the “terrorists”.

“For me it did not make sense at that time and it still does not make sense today, if that were the case,” he declared.

Questioned by OAM on whether he had instructed the then Finance Minister, Manuel Chang, to issue the state guarantees that made the hidden debts possible, the former head of state replied in the negative.

He said that he tasked the operative command, at the time coordinated by the Minister of Defence and current Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, with the task of seeking resources for the implementation of the Integrated Monitoring and Protection System (SIMP) of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Armando Guebuza insisted that the “details” of the execution of the SIMP – considered by the prosecution to be the pretext for the hidden debts -, should be clarified by the members of the operative command.

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“The delegation was made to the operative command, so it is not my responsibility to go into the detail,” he stressed.

Guebuza branded as “inventions” the statements in court by then interior minister Alberto Mondlane that matters about SIMP and the creation of the companies benefiting from the hidden debt money had been discussed in restricted meetings, without all members of the operative command being present.

“You presume, therefore, that the inventions of former minister [Alberto] Mondlane are facts,” questioned Armando Guebuza, responding to another question from OAM.

Without being directly questioned on the matter, the former Mozambican President said that the government of Filipe Nyusi “folded its arms” in the face of the suspension of support from international financial institutions and donors to the State Budget, following the hidden debts, pointing out that the country had withstood previous economic and financial difficulties.

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Source: Lusa