Renamo accepts impossible time to submit candidates - CIP Mozambique Elections
Photo: Ministry of Defence
As the new Defence Minister of Mozambique, Jaime Bessa Neto, received his portfolio from outgoing Major-General in the Reserve, Atanásio Salvador Mtumuke on Monday (20), he told @Verdade that: “You don’t need to be a military officer to be defence minister; it is an area of political management.”
With the mission of “tirelessly seeking peace and tranquillity for the Mozambican people”, the new Minister of National Defence assumed his role in a short ceremony in Maputo.
Speaking immediately after the swearing-in, President Filipe Nyusi demanded that the new defence helmsman “guarantee the working conditions of all members of the Defence and Security Forces – at all levels, not only at the higher level.” “Actually I am much more interested on the lower levels, and I will be vigilant in this area as Commander in Chief,” he immediately added.
The 48-year-old former Assembly of the Republic deputy Jaime Bessa Neto, who has a degree in Geography and a master’s degree in Environmental Sciences, has never been in the Mozambican army, and his past professional experience includes leadership positions in the City Council of Beira and in the Centre for Environmental Hygiene and Medical Examinations in the capital of Sofala province.
“You don’t need to be a military officer to be defence minister; it is an area of political management,” Neto told @Verdade on Saturday (18) after taking office at the Ponta Vermelha Palace. “I think we have very special support from His Excellency the President of the Republic, and we will be able to listen to the guidelines and proceed accordingly.”
Military training does not seem to be necessary to head the defence sector, judging by the dynamism and revitalisation characteristic of Filipe Nyusi’s 2008-2014 tenure of that position.
In fact, during this period, Mozambique’s military budget increased by 4,899.6 percent, from 344,006,000 meticais in 2011, to 16,198,990,700 meticais in 2014, according to the Administrative Tribunal.
By Adérito Caldeira
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