Why the Mozambican parliament set up a commission to check emergency aid

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Why the Mozambican parliament set up a commission to check emergency aid

9:43 CAT | 04 Apr 2019

File photo: Lusa

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Wednesday decided to set up a commission to inspect and verify accusations of mismanagement of humanitarian aid destined for the victims of cyclone Idai, in the central provinces.

The new commission will include members of the Assembly’s working commissions on legal and constitutional matters, and on social and gender matters.

The subject was raised as a “previous question” during Wednesday’s plenary session of the Assembly by Saimone Macuiana, a prominent deputy of the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo. He demanded an urgent debate on the matter in the plenary.

Macuiana cited reports of undue use and theft of goods intended for the cyclone victims. As an example, he claimed that in an accommodation centre set up at the Dombe Secondary School in Manica province, “members of Renamo are discriminated against in the distribution of goods”.

He insisted that the Assembly set up its own mechanism that would check permanently on the distribution of aid.

The proposal was broadly accepted by the parliamentary groups of the ruling Frelimo Party and of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), with the proviso that the Assembly’s governing board, its Standing Commission, will set up the new body.

The head of the Frelimo group, Margarida Talapa, warned deputies not to take political advantage of the suffering caused by cyclone Idai and the subsequent floods, which left a trail of devastation across the central provinces of Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia. “We accept the request, but it should be handled by the Standing Commission”, she said.

MDM spokesperson Jose Lobo demanded, not merely the monitoring of aid, but criminal proceedings against anyone found to be diverting aid.

“The people are suffering”, he said. “Intervention by parliament should be immediate, and the offenders punished”.

Consciously or otherwise, Lobo was echoing Frelimo Secretary-General Roque Silva who, two days ago, also demanded action against any officials diverting food intended for cyclone victims.

Silva had visited Dombe at the weekend, and accepted the possibility of aid being stolen by unscrupulous officials. He demanded exemplary punishment for any anyone involved in such corrupt schemes.

The country’s relief agency, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGC), struck a blow for transparency on Wednesday when it published a list of all donations received up to 31 March.

The list covers all goods from private and public institutions, Mozambican and foreign. The list includes several hundred items, and is published across five pages of Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”. The INGC says it will update the list every fortnight.

Source: AIM