Nampula Mayor accuses his own party of attacking him – Mozambique

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Nampula Mayor accuses his own party of attacking him – Mozambique

6:57 CAT | 08 Feb 2017

Folha de Maputo / Mahamudo Amurane

The mayor of the northern Mozambican city of Nampula, Mahamudo Amurane, has accused his own political party, the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), of waging out a campaign to damage his image, according to a report in Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”.

Amurane claimed he was under attack because he will not accept corrupt practices. He said the problem was not new, and he has decided to announce it publicly now, because he believes the MDM has embarked upon a path of corruption.

Some of Amurrane’s opponents had publicly accused him of using municipal funds to acquire a house in Portugal, a country he has recently visited. Amurrane told reporters that these claims were defamatory and without any substance.

In late January this accusation came to the surface when the Nampula delegation of the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC) ordered the detention of seven staff of the Nampula Municipal Council on charges of falsifying documents.

All 11 worked in the Nampula City single attendance counter (BAU), which is supposed to smooth the path for businesses applying for licences, permits and the like. According to the GCCC, those detained were involved in a scheme to forge invoices, receipts and other documents, and pocketed the money paid by users of the BAU.

Relatives of the detainees protested outside the Nampula Provincial Prison, where the seven are being held. They claimed that they were innocent and demanded their immediate release. Some of the protesters went further and claimed that the money stolen had gone into the pocket of the Amurrane, for his alleged house in Portugal.

One of those making this accusation told the independent television station STV she is a member of the MDM, though the MDM itself later denied this.

But according to “O Pais”, Amurane himself does see an MDM hand in this agitation. He could show reporters invoices for the rent he paid ion the house where he stayed while in Portugal. He had paid these invoices, he said, out of his own pocket.

Amurane said that some people regarded him as a threat because of the work he has been undertaking in Nampula.

Source: AIM