Mozambique: 10 lecturers dismissed for sexual harassment
NGO criticises alleged “secrecy” of Covid-19 technical-scientific commission
12:30 CAT | 17 Jul 2020
File photo: Lusa
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), a Mozambican non-governmental organisation, yesterday criticised alleged “secrecy” surrounding the reports of the government Covid-19 technical-scientific commission.
“Despite the legal nature of the activities of this commission being in the public interest, compounded by the high impact of its recommendations on the lives of citizens and in the management of the pandemic, its scientific reports and studies have been kept secret,” a CDD press release reads.
The technical-scientific commission was created in late March to advise the executive regarding preventative measures. It is led by the Minister of Health, Armindo Tiago, and comprises 12 personalities appointed by the government and defined by the health authorities.
The CDD says the commission should publish its produces, thereby providing Mozambicans with useful information.
“This attitude [of secrecy] flagrantly violates the Law on the Right to Information, which obliges state bodies and institutions to make information of public interest available to them,” the NGO says.
Mozambique, which has been in a state of emergency since April 1, has a total of 1,402 positive cases of Covid-19, 397 recoveries and nine deaths.
The country is currently working towards the lifting of some restrictions, with the emphasis on the phased reopening of schools, prioritising exam classes.
In Africa, 14,042 deaths have been confirmed in more than 645,000 infected in 54 countries, according to the latest statistics on the pandemic in that continent.
Among African countries that have Portuguese as their official language, Equatorial Guinea leads in number of infections and deaths (2,350 cases and 51 deaths), despite having revised the cases down after several days without updates, followed by Guinea-Bissau (1,842 cases and 26 deaths), Cape Verde (1,837 cases and 19 deaths), Mozambique (1,402 cases and nine deaths), São Tomé and Príncipe (736 cases and 14 deaths) and Angola (576 infected and 27 deaths).
The Covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 584,000 lives and infected more than 13.58 million people in 196 countries and territories.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
Source: Lusa
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