To “focus attention”: Frelimo bans use of mobile communication devices inside Congress Hall

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To “focus attention”: Frelimo bans use of mobile communication devices inside Congress Hall

11:33 CAT | 26 Sep 2017

Around 4,000 people are expected to attend the 11th Frelimo Congress at the party’s headquarters in Matola near Maputo, in an event that will hold the attention of Mozambique until Sunday.

The current Frelimo leader and president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, is, for the time being, the only candidate for his own succession, in the election for the presidency of the party.

Three Mozambican political analysts told Lusa that the congress should “limit itself to producing minimal internal adjustments” in the party force that has ruled the country since independence.

Frelimo spokesman António Niquice believes that the congress should serve as a signal to investors and partners that peace and the economic recovery of Mozambique are priorities.

The meeting comes three days after Renamo President Afonso Dhlakama made his first public appearance for a year and a half.

The opposition leader led a meeting of the Renamo political commission in the Gorongosa mountain range, where he is a refugee in the centre of the country, and has already announced an agreement with Frelimo for the election of provincial governors in 2019 – one of the negotiating points for a peace agreement in the country.

The 11th Frelimo Congress will be the party’s main meeting before the October 10, 2018 and 2019 general elections and will also diced the composition of the new central committee, part of which is already elected by local structures which then meet to elect the new political commission.

The meeting will “improve and approve the party’s statutes and five-year program and governance of Frelimo,” the party’s spokesman added.

Five proposals will be discussed, with themes ranging from national unity to regional and international cooperation, through decentralisation and governmental ethics.

The use of mobile communication devices will be banned in the pavilion where the congress will be held, so that participants can “focus attention” on the works, according to official sources.

Journalists will be admitted during the opening and closing sessions of the congress, and also during the presentation of the party program and at interim communications throughout the six days of the congress.

Source: Lusa