Friday, December 2, 2011

'CWABO' LAUNCHES CRY OF REVOLT

Quelimane, "Chuabo City" as the natives termed, can cry of pain and consternation. Since the National Independence on June 25, 1975, the "City Chuabo" knowing was gradually regression and systematic destruction caused by the successive local governments before flowing into a sea of ​​problems with no solution in sight to the present.  Water shortage is chronic and dramatic. On the outskirts of the city, the shortage or lack of it is alarming shape. Women and children jostle with, with their biddons during the day, along with holes, often in the morning to the setting of the sun, do not do well one drop of water to wet the throat, as well as the musician sings Mozambique Luis Fernando  At the opening of the campaign, Pio Matos, a former mayor, said he leaves with head held high because "Frelimo took water to the neighborhoods." This "can" does not convince anyone. The cry for water is heard, with increasing intensity.  Pio Matos, one of the "generals" of the campaign Frelimo party, lied that he left the city with the water problem solved. Good speaker, which humiliated the mayor to step down raise elections "interim" in the land of Chuabo talks swirling. The real fallacy of the water could only get out of the mouth of a great magician ... 
The water problem is severe and has not even begun to be attacked. People say that "Frelimo and Pius deceived him in three times." Promise to solve the same problem, but when they come to power, are more concerned with their arrangements. They are not concerned with the problems of the city. "Chuabo" is a mix of city and country. In the middle of the city's housing construction material precarious, surrounded by gardens full of worthless scrap wood to be sold abroad because it is fashionable in the country, exporting raw timber, a lucrative business involving elites linked to the ruling party and citizens Chinese, too, go to "taxi" bike here in Quelimane.  This way one sees large tonnage trucks loaded with logs, to circulate through the city, damaging the floor, under the impassive gaze of the authorities who should regulate the movement of such trucks. No one can be judge in his own. Those who were to oversee the administration are now in horse-trading behind the desks of state institutions. Manage their personal affairs installed in wards of the state. Do not put an end to these attacks to the assets of public funds does not impede the movement of trucks because business people are all the same political family. Quelimane so degraded.  The "City Chuabo" trash heap has in its corner that is not removed regularly. Its streets are potholed. Now that the election campaign is underway, city officials are working to full production, to cover the shame. What should be your daily work is done in the electoral campaign to deceive the most distracted.  "Chuabo" stopped in time and, as irony, the authors of their misfortune, every five years, returning to the door hit you on the hunt for votes to continue to enjoy.  Manuel de Araujo, the candidate of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, said that his candidacy is a cry of revolt. Used to say "enough to play with Chuabo Mwana."  The struggle in these "interim" is red hot. It is as early as next Wednesday that the residents of the capital of Zambezia go to the polls. This is the capital of the second most populous province in the country You can not have a secure sense of what might be the outcome of these elections. The truth, however, is that Manuel Araujo is messing with everything and everyone and his name is the most talked about, especially in the periphery and among young people.  Do not be surprised if the opposition wins, but the fear of fraud is present and may happen to be the spark that fired the prairie. It is recommended that the greatest civility, for fair elections. (Edwin Houn)

MOZAMBIQUE SCORE ON CORRUPTION INDEX UNCHANGED

The international anti-corruption NGO, Transparency International, has placed Mozambique in 120th position out of 184 countries surveyed in its 2011 Corruption Perception Index, which is much the same as its position in 2010.The index scores countries on a scale between zero and 10 – the nearer a score is to ten, then the cleaner that country is deemed to be. On this scale, the least corrupt countries in the world are New Zealand (with a score of 9.5), Denmark and Finland (each on 9.4), and Sweden (9.3).At the other end of the scale, the countries worst hit by corruption are Somalia, which has not had a functioning government for two decades, and North Korea, which both score just 1.0. Also among the most corrupt countries are Myanmar and Afghanistan (1.5) and Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Sudan (1.6).Mozambique is scored at 2.7, and shares position 120 with the Solomon Islands, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Guatemala, Ethiopia, Ecuador and Bangladesh.According to TI, the least corrupt African country is Botswana, on a score of 6.1 – the same as Portugal. It is followed by Cape Verde (5.5), Mauritius (5.1) and Rwanda (5.0).The 15 members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have the following rankings and scores in the TI Index:
32 Botswana (6.1)
46 Mauritius (5.1)
50 Seychelles (4.8)
57 Namibia (4.4)
57 South Africa (4.4)
77 Lesotho (3.5)
91 Zambia (3.2)
95 Swaziland (3.1)
100 Malawi (3.0)
100 Madagascar (3.0)
100 Tanzania (3.0)
120 Mozambique (2.7)
154 Zimbabwe (2.2)
168 Angola (2.0)
168 Democratic Republic of Congo (2.8)
Perhaps not surprisingly, there are some poor performers in the euro zone. Italy, with a score of 3.9 is tied with Ghana, Macedonia and Samoa. Greece does rather worse with 3.4 – on a par with drug-stricken Colombia. And anyone who imagined that the fall of the Soviet Union was a recipe for clean government is in for a shock – Russia trails in 143rd position with a score of 2.4.Mozambique’s score is unchanged from last year. In 2010, it also scored 2.7, but because fewer countries were covered Mozambique was ranked in 116th position (out of 178).TI says that the Corruption Perception Index is based on “different assessments and business opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions”, and covering such questions as “bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds and questions that probe the strength and effectiveness of public sector anti-corruption efforts”.The TI report notes that “public outcry at corruption, impunity and economic instability sent shockwaves round the world in 2011”. Referring clearly to the toppling of dictatorships in North Africa, it adds “protests in many countries have escalated quickly from small scale action to mass demonstration, united people from all parts of society”.
Public frustration “is well founded”, says TI. “No country or region in the world is immune to the damages of public sector corruption”. A clear indication of the seriousness of the problem is that the great majority of the 183 countries surveyed score less than five on the zero to 10 scale.“Whether in a Europe hit by the debt crisis or an Arab world starting a new political era, leaders must heed the demand for better government”, declared the TI chairperson, Huguette Labelle, cited in the report.

ASSEMBLY PASSES BILLS ON INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Thursday passed the first reading of a bill on the status of members of the State Intelligence and Security Service (SISE), providing them with a legal framework to protect their rights and establish their duties, as is already the case with members of the police and armed forces.The bill states that the “indispensable conditions” for recruitment to SISE are “recognised civic and patriotic suitability, professional competence, and relevant academic training”. A career in SISE is open to Mozambicans aged between 18 and 25 – but recruitment is not done publicly, and there are no tenders or adverts.Recruits must “accept the risks inherent to the duties they will perform”, and must not belong to any “political pressure groups”. They must be “permanently available” for duty, even after they have retired.The element of risk and the physical and psychological pressures of the job entitle SISE members to allowances in addition to their monthly wages.As is usually the case with intelligence agencies, a veil of secrecy is thrown over SISE. The names of successful recruits are not published in the official gazette, the “Boletim da Republica”, and nor are the SISE wage scales. The trial of any SISE member accused of a crime will be held behind closed doors.SISE members are banned from “interfering in the private life of citizens or in the operations of public and private institutions and companies”. They must not undertake any activities which “threaten the principles enshrined in the constitution and the law”, and must not usurp any powers that belong to the courts, the police or the public prosecutor’s office.They are also barred from releasing any information about SISE to the media, and cannot write or publish anything concerning their work without authorisation.
Any interference in the lives of citizens will lead to dismissal, as will the unauthorized possession of firearms, or involvement in any illegal business or financial activities.The bill passed with the 125 deputies present from the ruling Frelimo Party voting in favour, while 43 deputies of the largest opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, voted against, and five members of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) abstained.The same breakdown occurred on Wednesday when the Assembly passed a bill on the nature and powers of SISE. This bill states that the mission of SISE is “to protect state security through the production of useful information on crimes against state security or cross-border crimes and other activities, which by their nature might alter the constitutionally established rule of law”.SISE is allowed to intercept communications when there are signs that such crimes are being committed or planned, particularly attempted assassination of the head of state or other senior state figures, sabotage, terrorism, espionage, piracy, armed rebellion, money laundering, and trafficking in drugs, guns, people or human organs.SISE is barred from any activity “that involves threats or offences against the rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens, enshrined in the Constitution and the law”.Renamo deputies claimed that SISE “harasses Mozambican citizens who don’t agree with Frelimo”, and makes death threats against people who want to be election candidates for opposition parties. No specific examples were given.Fernando Matuasanga declared that the SISE commander-in-chief (President Armando Guebuza) “took power fraudulently”, and claimed that SISE “defends his personal interests rather than the interests of the nation”.In reality, in the 2009 presidential election Guebuza won almost three million votes (75 per cent of valid votes) to slightly more than 650,000 (16.41 per cent) for Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama. Those incidents of fraud that did take place cannot possibly account for such an enormous victory.The MDM’s concern was for lack of sufficient oversight over SISE. MDM deputy Eduardo Elias warned “those who are not properly supervised are prone to commit abuses”.