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Vahanle, who was sworn into office last week, invited reporters into the Council premises to show the media the conditions he has inherited. Photo: Deutsche Welle
The new mayor of the northern Mozambican city of Nampula, Paulo Vahanle, has revealed that the Municipal Council is in debt to the tune of around 41 million meticais (about 678,000 US dollars).
According to a report in Thursday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, Vahanle, who was sworn into office last week, invited reporters into the Council premises to show the media the conditions he has inherited.
He said he had found a situation in which the various sectors of the municipality were completely out of line with each other. This obliged him to call an immediate meeting with the city councillors to understand the difficulties each sector faces in its day-to-day activities.
There were 41 million meticais of confirmed debts to the municipality’s suppliers, and Vahanle believed there are other debts, yet to be confirmed.
A further critical issue was the breakdown of the city’s garbage collection vehicles. Vahanle promised to launch a public tender in the near future to hire vehicles to remove the rubbish accumulated in Nampula streets.
Vahanle’s main problem is that he is politically isolated. He is a member of the rebel movement Renamo, but, because Renamo boycotted the 2013 municipal elections, there is not a single Renamo member on the Nampula municipal assembly, which is dominated by the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).
The mayor elected in 2013, Mahamudo Amurane, was also an MDM member – but he was assassinated in October 2017, which precipitated the by-election won by Vahanle. It is not yet clear whether the debts Vahanle has inherited were run up by Amurane’s administration, or under the two interim mayors who followed him, Manuel Tocova and Americo Iemenle, also members of the MDM.
The City Councillors are also largely Amurane appointees. Vahanle said that so far his work with municipal officials is “reasonable”, but some were “not honest” and were not providing him with relevant information.
“The department directors are willing to cooperate”, he said. “The problem lies with the councillors”.
He said that currently municipal taxes, such as the daily fees paid by market vendors, are not reaching the municipal coffers. Also a number of the Council staff had been recruited in an irregular manner, which meant that each individual case would have to be analysed carefully.
Vahanle said he had found a large number of illegal constructions, built without the authorisation of the Municipal Council, plus assorted fast food outlets that had sprung up illegally.
The new mayor said he is determined to restore legality and give Nampula back its good name.
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