The Political Commission of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party issued a communique in the early hours of Thursday which sounded an upbeat note on the country’s political and economic reality, and exalted Filipe Nyusi, its President, over his conduct of national affairs.
The Political Commission is the party’s most important body between sessions of Frelimo’s Central Committe, and it was meeting in its 11th ordinary meeting.
Comment
The communique could not be further from the truth, especially because the national reality is characterised by a series of challenges.
For the past few months, civil servants have not been receiving their salaries on time, which has led to speculations that government may not have enough resources to pay wages until the end of the year. Something which it has denied.
In the northern Cabo Delgado province, the insurgency seems to be picking up with insurgents mounting ambushes. Just last week, the insurgents ambushed army vehicles and killed ten soldiers.
The wave of kidnappings has not been quelled; the latest attempt took place in Maputo on Wednesday resulting in a failed attempt thanks to a prompt intervention by police which arrested two people alleged to be members of the investigating service, known as SERNIC.
What this revealed was a complicity between police and SERNIC, and Frelimo’s “casual friends“ in the kidnapping business.
Doctors have announced they will go on a strike next week over what they consider poor pay and working conditions. This is the second time in a six months’ period that doctors take the strike route. In January they suspended a strike pending negotiations with the government.
However, the doctors claim that the government has not been negotiating with them in good faith. Moreover, government has failed to implement what they had agreed on. The reason the doctors went on a strike in the first place is because during the implementation of the Single Salary Table (TSU), government fixed high salaries for them, but subsequently reduced the wages, leaving the doctors feeling short-changed.
There is on ongoing unprecedented logistical and security crisis at the border with South Africa, with government warning Mozambicans to avoid going into its neighbouring country, save for emergency cases.
Frelimo’s own pre-primaries for the election of mayoral candidates for the forthcoming municipal elections have not been without controversy. The Political Commission could not force its choices of candidates over the grass roots with clear divisions between the party’s Nyusi’s wing a Guebuza’s.
But for the Political Commission the picture is rosy. Little wonder the communique was full of praise for the party and country’s President.
Clearly, the Political Commission is either bereft of ideas or it is hell-bent on pushing Nyusi over the precipice, and maybe the party with him.
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