CONSTITUTIONAL COUNCIL CHAIRPERSON RESIGNS

The Chairperson of Mozambique’s Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law, Luis Mondlane, announced his resignation on Thursday.In a press release, Mondlane announced that he had already communicated his decision to resign to President Armando Guebuza.Guebuza appoints the Chairperson of the Council, and the President’s choice is subject to ratification by the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. But neither the President nor the Assembly can sack the chairperson of the Council before the expiry of his five year term of office.The chairperson can only be sacked by the Council itself, following disciplinary proceedings. And this had become a distinct possibility following accusations in the press of corrupt and illegal behaviour by Mondlane. Mondlane was accused of using the Constitutional Council budget to pay off personal bills. In particular, he had ensured that the Council pay off his mortgage for a central Maputo house that cost 24.3 million meticais (about 784,000 meticais at today’s exchange rates).The mortgage payments were disguised as rent, even though the house was registered, not in the name of the Council, but of Mondlane himself.In addition, the weekly paper “Savana” published a list of goods and services purchased by Mondlane for himself and his family in 2010, and paid for out of Council funds (not including the mortgage payments). These personal expenses amounted to 8.8 million meticais (about 284,000 US dollars). Faced with this scandal, the Constitutional Council set up a three member Commission of Inquiry to look into the allegations against Mondlane. Depending on the findings of the Commission, the Council could then have begun disciplinary proceedings against Mondlane which might have resulted in his dismissal or compulsory retirement.A second blow against Mondlane came when the Administrative Tribunal, the body that oversees the legality of public expenditure and of state appointments, rejected his choice of Ana Juliana Lucas e Saute for general secretary of the Council.Mondlane had unilaterally sacked the previous general secretary, Geraldo Saranga, and pushed ahead with the appointment of Juliana against the opposition of the other six judges on the Council. They pointed out that, with only three years experience as a judge, she does not meet the requirements to become the council’s general secretary. The Administrative Tribunal agreed, and now the Council has no valid general secretary.In his short press release, Mondlane said he was resigning in order “to contribute towards safeguarding the peace and stability of the country, opening space for the consolidation of democracy and of the democratic rule of law”.”I am leaving the Constitutional Council convinced that I gave the best of myself for the development of the institution”, he said.