Mozambique: PGR requested to ascertain legality of “priority” for children of combatants

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Mozambique: PGR requested to ascertain legality of “priority” for children of combatants

1:39 CAT | 06 Jul 2022

File photo: Folha de Maputo

A Mozambican NGO, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has filed a request with the country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) to ascertain the legality of a ministerial letter that recommends giving “priority” to the children of former combatants for jobs in the public administration.

In question is a letter seen by Lusa on Wednesday in which the Minister of Administration and Civil Service of Mozambique, Ana Comoane, asks the Secretary of State for Inhambane province to “prioritise the dependents of combatants in filling vacancies in the services authorised for the purposes”.

The document signed by Ana Comoane is dated April 29, but began circulating last week on social media and later in some mainstream media channels.

Reacting to the letter, the CDD points out that it “is generating a lot of contestation and indignation in society for promoting inequality among citizens in access to public service and violating the law and the Constitution of the Republic”.

The instruction of the Minister of State Administration and Public Service “finds no ground in the Constitution of the Republic, nor in the laws or legal norms in force governing the functioning of the public administration”, the CDD notes.

Specifically, the NGO says the text offends the principle of equality provided for in the country’s fundamental law and violates the rules of access to vacancies in the state apparatus.

In this sense, the CDD asks the PGR to comment on the legality of Minister Comoane’s act, since that body has the duty to “defend the interests that the law determines, [and] control the legality and supervise compliance with the Constitution ”.

Another NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), also rejects the letter, considering the “request” by the Minister of State Administration and Public Service to be “unconstitutional and illegal”.

According to the official letter, the dependents of the combatants must have priority in the entrance exams in the sectors of education, health, agriculture and administration of justice.

According to the Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique, three categories of former combatants: those who fought for ten years for national independence, conquered in 1975, and those who fought for sovereignty and for democracy, which are those who participated in the 16-year civil war, which ended in 1992.

Lusa tried to secure the reaction of the Ministry of State Administration and Public Service, but without success.

CDD REQUEREU À PGR PARA SE PRONUNCIAR SOBRE O CONTROLO DA LEGALIDADE DO ACTO DA MINISTRA DA ADMINISTRAÇÃO ESTATAL E FUNÇÃO PÚBLICA pic.twitter.com/iKNspFxRRn

— CDD – Centro para Democracia e Desenvolvimento (@CDD_Moz) July 5, 2022