Mozambique: PGR address, Radio and TV law and Press law scheduled in Parliament

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Mozambique: PGR address, Radio and TV law and Press law scheduled in Parliament

8:04 CAT | 26 Feb 2021

File photo: Noticias

Information from the Attorney General and the debate on the draft press law and draft radio and TV broadcasting law are the main agenda items of the plenary session of the Mozambican parliament which started this Thursday.

The presence of Beatriz Buchili in parliament will be the most important feature of the session, the third of the current legislature, since it is the occasion for the head of the Public Prosecution Service to present an overview of the situation of justice in Mozambique last year.

Another relevant feature will be questions to the government, at a time when Mozambique is experiencing the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and is the scene of armed violence in the central and northern regions.

The proposals for a press law and a radio and TV law, the first of their kind in the country, will also be followed with great interest.

The proposals have already been criticised by Mozambican civil society for their alleged anti-democratic character, because they give too much power to the executive in matters that should be dealt with by entities independent of the government.

Parliament will also debate the 2019 State General Account. “The list of matters to be debated in the next session is not closed, because other issues may arise in the course of proceedings,” spokesman of the Standing Commission of the Assembly of the Republic Alberto Matucutuco told a press conference.

Deputies distributed between rooms because of Covid-19

As a Covid-19 prevention measure, parliament resumes plenary sessions with the deputies divided between the plenary chamber, a gallery reserved for guests and rooms usually intended for the work of the benches.

“As it is impossible to have all 250 deputies in the plenary room with social distance of two meters, the solution found was to divide the deputies between the main room, a room reserved for guests and rooms for the public and the benches,” said Orusa Chemane, the Assembly’s director of Public and International Relations.

All 250 deputies were tested for Covid-19, with anyone testing positive responsible for informing parliamentary management of their unavailability. “Tests were carried out in the 11 constituencies of all the deputies, and also all the employees of the Assembly of the Republic, so that the session can start safely,” Chemane declared.

Chemane said that seats were distributed at two metre’s distance in all rooms where the deputies will congregate. Parliamentarians who cannot attend in the plenary meeting room will participate virtually, Chemane stressed.

Source: Deutsche Welle