Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi’s time in office have fostered an unprecedent presidential model in the country’s history. During his eight years at the helm of government, it has become clear that his administration comprises three competing branches, namely a de jure one; a de facto one; and the real government.
The de jure government comprises the council of ministers and other state institutions representing executive power, which have shown their incompetence and have failed to communicate adequately time and time again.
As for the de facto government, it consists of a small and select ethnic and family conclave which controls and decides who has access to opportunities in the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) projects, logistics, contracting and national bidding processes. However, Nyusi does not sit at the head of the table of this inner sanctum.
In the real government, Nyusi’s children sit at the head of the table along with the offspring of other families and broker access to the president for various businesspeople interested in investing in Mozambique, and they also gallivant around the world attracting businesses into the country. Of course, they earn large commissions for their troubles.
One can understand how and along which lines the strategies and political options of the President are outlined, where the party is neither seen nor heard, with the exception, of course, of a Frelimo Secretary General very friendly to Nyusi. For example, during government reshuffling, the party was hardly consulted apart from the said Secretary-General, who also appoints people close to him and who can advance their business interests.
As for government reshuffles, hardly any took place after Frelimo’s 12th Congress. This lethargy confirms the perception that the 12th Congress was the most folkloric in the whole history of Frelimo, and how Nyusi’s wishes are unstoppable, and that the appetites of the group he represents are increasingly rapacious.
The brutal police repression of peaceful protests over the weekend confirms the three/pronged nature of the government: the police genera-commander, who’s part of the de facto government took it upon himself to bypass elected bodies and trample the Constitution of the Republic in order to defend the tribe’s greatest asset – the President. The important caveat here is that if the aim was to defend the President from the protesters, other state entities would have been consulted, which Mozambique Insights understands did not happen. The police commander decided, and his instructions were carried out nationwide: the result was what we all saw – a country in the style of a highly repressive military dictatorship.
Which brings us to the question: who calls the shots in Frelimo? The President? The Secretary-General? His friend, minister Celso Correia? The tribe’s elder and veteran of the struggle for independence, Alberto Chipande? Or newfound international ally, Paul Kagame of Rwanda?
Clearly, Frelimo’s own bodies have been side-lined. So, the question becomes where the country is heading to amid such political misgovernment. Or is not misgovernment at all but an attempt to gut the party and further perpetuate the power of one group?
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