Nyusi in Cabo Delgado: Keep waiting and work harder – By J. Hanlon

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Nyusi in Cabo Delgado: Keep waiting and work harder – By J. Hanlon

2:54 CAT | 02 Jul 2018

Photo: O País

Gas will create 5000 jobs – but not yet – President Filipe Nyusi said Friday in Palma, Cabo Delgado. He called for patience, and said in the meantime, people must work harder and produce more. (AIM En 1 July; Zitamar 30 June, Financial Times 27 June)

In May there was a demonstration of hundreds of young people in Palma demanding jobs, saying when they applied to the gas companies, their applications were just thrown in the rubbish. And the Bishop of Pemba in a pastoral letter confirmed that gas-related jobs were going to outsiders.

The Anadarko led consortium which has Area 1 nearest to the coast has already started relocating residents from the Afungi peninsula near Palma where it will build its gas liquification plant. It has 1000 workers on site preparing are area, and is expected to have 2500 workers by the end of the year – but it is not known how many will be local.

Nyusi said that the ExxonMobil and ENI will also go ahead with their LNG plant to process gas from area 4 further off shore. Construction of the plants will not start until at least 2020. Eventually these will create 5000 jobs, he said, but many of these will be for outsiders who have been trained. The government is setting up a centre in Palma to train local young people in trades such as carpentry and electricity. In the meantime, loyal youth will have to be patient and work harder.

But patience may be in short supply, and the recent attacks by militant young men are at least partly linked to their frustration at not finding jobs and being forced to become informal street sellers.

Revised constitution

An official version of the revised Mozambican constitution is posted HERE

By Joseph Hanlon

Source: News reports & clippings