Mozambique: NGO slams Tax Authority president’s presence in Frelimo leadership

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Mozambique: NGO slams Tax Authority president’s presence in Frelimo leadership

5:11 CAT | 12 Oct 2022

File photo: Sala da Paz

Mozambique’s Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), a leading non-governmental organisation, has described the election of the head of the country’s Tax Authority (AT), Amelia Muendane, as a member of the Political Commission of the governing party, Frelimo, as illegal and unethical.

“The General Statute of State Employees and Agents states that the role of civil servant is incompatible with the exercise of other activities that may compromise the public interest or impartiality required in the exercise of public functions,” reads a legal analysis released by the CDD.

In addition, it states, any AT staff member is obliged to provide service to their employer on an exclusive basis, while civil servants assigned to the AT are also required to respect legality, neutrality, impartiality and integrity.

The CDD text notes that, “as the president of the Tax Authority is a director of Frelimo, which is a private entity, she can never be neutral and impartial, as she will tend to seek to safeguard the interests of her party and its members.”

As a member of Frelimo’s Political Commission, it continues, Muendane could even harm the interests of other parties in processes in which she has to decide in her capacity as head of the AT.

“As she is the head of an organ with organic units of a paramilitary nature, where relationships of authority and subordination prevail between the officials assigned to it, it constitutes a serious risk for the democratic rule of law to have these republican forces directly subordinated to someone who performs private party functions,” the CDD notes.

The AT president, the analysis continues, should offer her resignation so that the institution can function free of suspicion.

Muendane was elected to the Political Commission of Frelimo during the governing party’s 12th congress, which was held from 23 to 28 September.

Lusa has so far been unable to get a reaction from Muendane to the arguments made by the CDD.

Eleição da Presidente da Autoridade Tributária para a Comissão Política da Frelimo atenta contra a lei, imparcialidade e neutralidade exigidas a todo servidor público

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— CDD – Centro para Democracia e Desenvolvimento (@CDD_Moz) October 10, 2022