Proposed Law of Representation reflects a backward step in decentralisation – Maputo Municipality

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Proposed Law of Representation reflects a backward step in decentralisation – Maputo Municipality

2:54 CAT | 12 Jul 2019

File photo: O País

The Municipality of Maputo says that the proposed State Representation Law in Maputo City reflects a backward step in terms of decentralisation, and that there is clearly a conflict of powers between the representative of the State in the capital and municipal management bodies.

By letter No 299/GP/2019 of 11 July, signed by the President of the Municipality of Maputo City, Mayor Eneas Comiche, Maputo Municipal Council sent contributions to the President of the Public Administration and Local Government Commission of the Assembly of the Republic on the proposal for a State Representation Law in the City of Maputo.

The Municipal Council of Maputo begins by saying that it had had access to the document, and went into detail on the contents of the document, in which it found that “The text of the Law Proposal reflects a certain retrocession of Decentralisation aiming to return to centralising the attributions which already belong to the Municipality of Maputo”.

“It does not seem clear to us the representation of the State at the level of the Municipal Districts; there is evident a conflict of powers between the representative of the State in the City of Maputo and the organs of the Municipal Council, embodied in the Constitution of the Republic and in article 3 of Law 6/2018 of August 3, republished by Law 13/2018 of December 17 and other legal provisions,” the letter adds

O País interviewed the president of the fourth commission, Lucas Chomera, who said he was meeting representatives of the municipality on Friday to settle doubts.

The MDM deputy for Maputo backs the Municipality, while Renamo has yet to take a stand on the issue. The Frelimo bench in the Assembly of the Republic chose not to comment on the matter.

Our reporter learned from Chomera that the Minister of State Administration and Public Administration would speak on the proposed State Representation Law in the City of Maputo on Monday (July 15), when parliament also reconvenes.

By José Macamo

Source: O País