Behind the scenes of the doctors' strike

A group of political party Frelimo deigned to miss the service to go clean the bathrooms of the hospitals of the square. Among other activities, this group also undertook to triage patients including direct them to the various wards as per the needs and possibilities of the moment. These politicians Frelimo did it in response to its most refined feelings of solidarity to the cause of humanity. Is that no longer could stand SEE THE PEOPLE SUFFER. Congratulations.

1. Call Frelimo political group because the pictures are almost all workers, middle-class intellectuals and high one, entrepreneur consolidated square sponsor Frelimo candidate for the office of Mayor of Inhambane, the largest number of donor slippers bathroom that the city of Inhambane has known throughout its existence!

2. This is a group with no expertise in medicine or public health.

3. They took one day from his work seriously to "respond" to the "call" and the cause of humanity without this "effort" represented quality service by not exactly have impacted on the crux of the matter: to heal the sick. Now, a brief analysis, it is up to me to say that these workers doubly harmed your boss, be it the State or private entity for the following reasons - hopefully we have taken a day off.

a) For the kind of work that have been given to accomplish today, it was preferable that they had identified a group of unemployed and wear your salary to pay these pieceworkers today. It's not that they added no value, no knowledge and no advantage. It was a group of experts from different fields, less health, which deigned to clean the bathroom of a hospital, in solidarity with the government of the day.

b) If you could spend one day of their salary to hire MANY UNEMPLOYED who roam the city of Maputo, help not only to give food to the needy but also contribute materially to the sharing of income so much talk, while they would be work for their employers, thus fulfilling its true mission.

c) What did these gentlemen equates those environments funeral cry more than those directly affected, even without knowing the deceased (to show how much they are shocked) instead of caring or find out concrete activities inherent to funeral or at least help the cash contribution to the strengthening of expenditure.

But we're not so bad at all. The group of politicians was clean the bathrooms gives us a good opportunity to take some questions hovering over the strike of health workers.

They are employees of another sector, wage earners and up the pros who were replacing essential to know them, some aspects:

a) Are the working conditions found the desirable from the point of view of job security and motivation?

b) Although they know the salary of professionals who replaced today (salary that can be spent on a lunch for two people each day who cleaned the bathrooms HCM), how long you would be more willing to work actually that post WINNING that salary? Remember that there are people that post for 20 years and the verge of retirement but have never seen his career progress.

c) If only because the day they cleaned the bathrooms, bath Maputo Central Hospital received praise from your superiors in recognition of your "heroic", imagine who works there for over 10 years?

d) Now these are targets for all types of achincalhamento and humiliation on the part of those in power, who "do not understand" their "lack of sensitivity" .... what a contrast!

e) So because of your volunteerism, deserved all kinds of PARABENS but they can not see who applaud the heroism of those who work there for more than a decade and earning wages of misery! Which side should position the common sense?

f) I mean, today, because a group of "volunteers well equipped and protected from the risk of contamination of diseases" were cleaning the bathrooms, bath HCM are heroes and those who work there for decades and now decided to demand better conditions work going on strike, they are VILLAINS! WOW.

g) Glad you are politicians, we still know a bit more of your experience: CENTRAL HOSPITAL GAVE YOU FOOD? What you ate? Sought to know what diet live health professionals? What they were or have been promised and what they have back?

Evaluating

h) At the end of the journey with that impression come from? Pleased to have served patients or those who you sent there? Sure, they were alone. The only one who coerces people to do things is undesirable Rice. Sorry.

i) If you were satisfied for helping ask yourself: how many patients saved? Since the focus has been this: health professionals must return to work to save lives.

j) You saved many lives today? Between you and those who were at the Blood Bank of the Hospital Central donating their precious liquid, who do you think has saved lives today?

k) Today is the ninth day of the strike. Since its inception this is the first time they put there feet. Tomorrow will not. By the way, how many tons of infectious waste collected? And waste not infectious? How were the houses-suite HCM? A filth? And tomorrow, who will clean them? And on Saturday? How sustainable is your desire to help? Have in fact acted to help those in need or to please those who should answer the debacle that is the national health care system? WAS YOUR GESTURE OF QUALITY?

l) take with your gesture succeeded in reaching the core of the sensitivity of health care professionals? Or will the contrary reached the desired visibility, posing as good Samaritans?

m) Finally, an outburst: solidarity does not need advertising. You can not give with one hand and take away with the other. Before there were a lot more people were there, offering their free help. Among them, the Red Cross still goes there.

So sorry to friends and friends of this introduction. It was just an interpellation that I thought needed doing. (E.Vaz / translation of Facebook)

SYRAH RESOURCES DISCOVERS EVEN MORE GRAPHITE

The Australian based mining company Syrah Resources has announced that an updated resource estimate for its Balama project, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, has increased the inferred reserves of graphite to 117 million tonnes, along with 2.7 million tonnes of vanadium pentoxide.According to Syrah, this confirms that the project contains far more graphite that the known reserves in the rest of the world (77 million tonnes according to the US Geological Survey).Syrah plans to be the world’s lowest cost producer of graphite, producing a very high grade and quality product. It describes Balama as “an extraordinary deposit” that “could meet demand requirements across all natural graphite flake ranges for several generations”, and adds that “given the low impurities contained in the graphite concentrate, Syrah expects to achieve premium prices on its product range”.The Balama concession, covering an area of 106 square kilometres, is about 265 kilometres west of the port of Pemba.Graphite is a form of carbon which is highly valued due to its properties as a conductor of electricity. It is used in batteries and fuel cells, and is the basis for the “miracle material” graphene, which is the strongest material ever measured, with vast potential for use in the electronics industries. World production of graphite stands at about 1.3 million tonnes per year and prices vary widely depending on quality and size. Powdered graphite sells for about 700 US dollars a tonne whilst top quality large flakes sell for around 6,000 dollars a tonne.Vanadium pentoxide sells for over 13,000 dollars a tonne.

FIRST LADY CALLS FOR ACTION AGAINST CERVICAL CANCER

Mozambique’s First Lady, Maria da Luz Guebuza, on Monday called for combined efforts to fight cervical cancer. Speaking in Kuala Lumpur at the Global Forum on Cervical Cancer Prevention, Maria da Luz Guebuza described the illness as a tragedy for African women and families which perpetuates poverty.She explained that, for countries such as Mozambique, cervical cancer is a serious problem for public health which also results in high economic losses.Maria da Luz Guebuza pointed out that “in 2008 about 50,000 African women died from cervical cancer, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa”. She stated that the worst affected countries include Guinea Conakry, Comoros, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone.She explained that six million Mozambican women are at risk of developing cervical cancer, and added that “each year, more than three thousand new cases are diagnosed and about two thousand women die”.Maria da Luz Guebuza warned that the prevalence of HIV in fertile women in Africa continues to grow. She pointed out that this is an aggravating risk factor in the development of cervical cancer.She stressed that cervical cancer is preventable and treatable if detected early. The screening technology is cheap, and immediate treatment can save the lives of many women.In addition, the vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV) is a safe and effective tool against types 16 and 18 of the virus which are responsible for about 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.The First Lady stressed that “vaccinating young women against the HPV virus will have a huge impact on the incidence rate in future generations”She praised the work of the GAVI Alliance (formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) which has been instrumental in the introduction of the vaccine at a reduced cost. Health authorities in Mozambique will begin to administer the vaccine in 2014 to girls between the ages of 9 and 13.However, she stressed that universal access to prevention, screening and treatment services is fundamental for reducing the incidence of cervical cancer.Maria da Luz Guebuza concluded, “we can and must guarantee that all women, wherever they are born and wherever they live, will be protected against this terrible form of cancer”. She pointed out that the growing awareness in society about the illness in Africa brings the hope that in coming years millions of lives can be saved.She pointed out that this “is a huge challenge that requires a strong and continuous partnership between organisations and entities dedicated to the struggle against cancer, and for women’s health and sexual and reproductive health”.Cervical cancer kills more than 275,000 women worldwide every year. 

Government continues to negotiate with "out-in-law"

Delegations from the Mozambican government and the country’s largest opposition party, Renamo, met in Maputo on Monday for the fourth round of talks between the two sides. During the meeting it was agreed that thirty days is enough time for the dialogue to produce results.The head of the government delegation, Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco told reporters that after the “prior questions” raised previously by Renamo had ceased to be a condition for dialogue, the two parties discussed and approved documents establishing the terms of reference for the talks. This defined the timetable for the meetings and an agreement over procedures and minute taking.During the meeting, the government delivered its position about electoral legislation, which will be discussed in detail at the next round of talks that are due to take place next Monday.However, Pacheco pointed out that the government is currently implementing the decision of the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, to organise the electoral process for the municipal elections that are being held on 20 November.
He stressed that the government is against violence and the destruction of property, which is why the police are stationed in different parts of the country to defend the rights and freedoms of citizens (one of Renamo’s preconditions for dialogue was the removal of the police from the vicinity of Renamo’s base in Gorongosa district in the central province of Sofala).
Questioned about the incident last Friday during which nine members of the Mozambican Rapid Intervention Force (FIR - the riot police) were injured by armed Renamo members in Vunduzi, in Gorongosa, Pacheco said that the government is still analysing the issue.
The head of the Renamo delegation, Saimone Macuiana, said that the dialogue will be founded on the General Peace Agreement (signed in 1992). He added that the parties had addressed the terms of reference for the dialogue so that solutions can now be found that will defend the interests of the people.Macuiana stated, “we are working but there are still no results. The position of Renamo in relation to elections remains the same and until now nothing has changed. The prior questions are no longer a condition for dialogue, but in due time they will be answered”.

I trust you guys

The President of the Republic, Armando Guebuza, says police should not retreat, but rather maintain their course of action to ensure public order and tranquility. Speaking during the official reception to senior executives of the police within the passage of 38 years of PRM, the commander in chief of the Defence and Security said he was satisfied with the performance of police officers and directed the corporation to continue with the work ."We the Mozambican Government and we have confidence in you (police). We believe we are capable and have the skills to ensure the tranquility of Mozambicans. Therefore, in addition to congratulate you for the work, renew vows of success ", said Guebuza. The Head of State also said that criticism of the police are made by those who do not want to maintain the safety of Mozambicans."I think we are aware that not everyone likes the tranquility of the people and that is why there is the police. When you hear screams, howls, often trying to discredit and demoralize the police, continue to respect the trust placed in you. We trust in you, "he said. On the other hand, Guebuza gave the green light for police continue to act as it has been doing it in the elections."We recognize your action in maintaining security and ensuring tranquility in municipal elections this year and, of course, that will come in 2014. As we celebrate the 38 years of the police, we remember the great missions that have met in the past, with care, with dedication and yielded victories and enabled them to live with peace and tranquility, "he said.

Convening of elections has been forgotten

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Thursday approved an amendment to the provision in the electoral legislation for setting the date for the next presidential and parliamentary elections.The measure was taken to ensure that the elections can take place in October 2014, before President Armando Guebuza’s five year term of office comes to an end. The first half of October is regarded as the best time for elections, since it is before the onset of the rains, and most of the country’s roads should be passable.Under the previous timetable, the President had to set the date of the election, after consulting with the National Elections Commission (CNE), at least 18 montsh in advance.However, the amendment changes the timetable to so that the polling day can be set “at least twelve months in advance”. This was because the Assembly’s Commission on Public Administration had argued that the previous conditions could not be met as the CNE is only now being set up.Guebuza swore 11 members of the CNE into office on Wednesday, and on Thursday the CNE chose as its chairperson, Sheikh Abdul Carimo Sau, the deputy chairperson of the Islamic Council of Mozambique (CISLAMO). He is also Executive Director of the Electoral Observatory, which is the most credible coalition of civil society groups in the country, consisting of the main religious denominations (Catholic, Protestant and Moslem), and NGOs such as the Human Rights League.The CNE should have 13 members – the last two are to be appointed by the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo. But Renamo is currently boycotting anything to do with elections and so has not appointed its CNE members. The decision to alter the deadlines was adopted unanimously with deputies from the ruling party Frelimo and the opposition party the Mozambique Democratic Movement voting in favour. As expected, the Renamo parliamentary group took no part in the vote. They did not even abstain and were simply not in the room – hence the vote could be unanimous.Instead, Renamo tried in vain to reopen the debate when it returned to the parliamentary chamber but the Assembly had already moved on to votes on amended tax legislation.

Mr.President:

That the January 15, 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Health, the Government, and the Medical Association of Mozambique established that: (i) the absence of reprisals to physicians and medical trainees, (ii) the need a living wage and differentiated to the doctor based on the principle of equity with effect from April 2013, (iii) the approval status of the doctor in the 1st session of the Assembly of 2013, and (iv) the maintenance of a solid platform for dialogue - this according concealed by the Government; Recalling that the African Charter daJuventude in your page 9, note with preocupaçãoa situation of young Africans most of which are marginalized from society due to income inequality, underemployment and poor access to health services, The African Youth Charter, Article 15 on the Sustainable Livelihoods and Youth Employment, believes that all young people have the right to: (i) empregoremunerável, (ii) protection against exploitation economic and dangerous exercise of functions likely to harm their health, and (iii) State guarantees equal access to employment and remuneration; Inspired, Article 89 of the Constitution, on the Right to Health, which states that "All citizens have the right to medical and health care, under the law, as well the duty to promote and protect public health "; Believing, is not a sign of weakness on the part of a State yield to the demands and aspirations of the people who elected him, recalling, That Article 58 of the Constitution, on the Right the Compensation and Liability of the State argues that "To everyone is given the right to require, by law, compensation for damages that are caused by the violation of their fundamental rights, the State is responsible for damage caused by unlawful acts of its agents, in the exercise of their duties, subject to the right of recourse under the law. " Excellence, The Youth Parliament believes that this strike is just and charged full sense of awareness of what it means to be a citizen of their rights and duties as well as its place within society by the part of the class of health professionals. When redigirmos this missive to SenhormPresidente to show our displeasure over the failure by the Government of the Memorandum signed with Class Medical during the 1st strike, we are aware that the medical profession, the trainee doctors and health professionals in the country have experienced situations of poverty and structural violence permanent symbolic. We believe that a state that does not respect the class of professionals related to health, a state is inconsistent and incongruous because more than humbling to professionals in this area, the violent people. If we look at the precarious life of physicians compared with their counterparts elsewhere in the world, emerges to us the meaning of this social and revolutionary strike as the culmination of a process that initially proved unable to be resolved through dialogue institutional. Moreover, when we look at the perks of ministers, deputy ministers, MPs, judges and other state officials, envision alternatives to meet the needs of physicians, readjusting the perks of retro mentioned or rationalizing resources redistributive standpoint, eliminating the social ostracism in relation to medical and professional class of basic services. We do not intend in any way to propose "gentrification" of the class of physicians or national professional as we are not the "gentrification" of our rulers and representatives in the Assembly of the people, but we intend to restore the dignity and self-esteem of health as an essential for quality of life and security of the entire Mozambican. Distancing himself from any action which might result in the loss of human lives, the Youth Parliament sympathizes with respect to the discourse of the Medical Association of Mozambique whereby doctors and health professionals will be victims of a "modern slavery" to light of Article 28 of the Statute of Physicians proposal requiring the provision of service to the State in a position to pay not decent - which, in a scenario of pauperization of the professional classes essential for human life and dignity consist of doctors, teachers and police, undermines the speech Government has defended adamantly fighting poverty. We believe that the claims of health professionals do not have anything unusual in a normal country. If our country is not normal consider these claims abnormal, but as hopefully Mozambique is a normal country want to believe that it will take into account the high demands of these noble professionals within the capabilities of the state, this struggle dating back from the times in which Professor Doctor Zilhão leading the Order of Médicos.mImporta noted that the Youth Parliament reaped with satisfaction the communication of His Excellency the Seventeenth Ordinary Session Heads of State and Government of the African Union on the theme of Youth, where in wise words defined youth as "another name for our future" and evoked the late President Samora Machel to define youth as "the lifeblood of the nation." On occasion, he said, and we quote: "The quality depends on the quality of the sap of the plant to absorb nutrients from the soil. Similarly, the quality of the intervention of our youth will be determined by the investment direccionarmos for her. "Today, the Youth Parliament also mentions these teachings smart addition to the quality of health services, will also depend on the quality of nutrients that professionals health of society can absorb. We hope you consider that doctors are as important as other favored classes, so we call it, in promoting the self-esteem of Mozambicans, is solidarity with the cause of the Medical Association and the Committee on Health Professionals This letter Sr . President, is an appeal to Your Excellency's good offices in order to raise awareness about what doctors and health professionals ask, even if it is necessary to cut the perks of ministers, deputy ministers, judges, MPs and others to share with other classes Professional - recovering the speech of the late President Samora Machel when we enjoined to be "the first in the sacrifices and benefits in the past." And we reinforce, "there is something for everyone and not all for some."

Excellence,

We believe that the youth and the people of Mozambique acceptgreater satisfaction with the positive response of Thy part considering that this strike can not spoil the big capitalist elites who have the means to resort to private clinics but undoubtedly will affect the people in general. Thus, disciplined, submetemonos the verdict that Your Excellency has the authority to say, in the expectation that this deserves the attention of Your part and already manifesting our deepest sympathy to the cause of health professionals and the people of Mozambique .

We demand justice in health! (In Mediafax)

PRESIDENT TOURS CHINA IN SEARCH OF FUNDS FOR DEVELOPMENT

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Tuesday continued with the second day of his tour of China.During his working visit to the country he will be trying to mobilise from the Chinese government, businesses and banks funds for the implementation of a hundred projects requiring ten billion US dollars in investment.According to a Mozambican government document seen by AIM, about half of this amount has already been promised. In some cases projects have already begun to be executed whilst in others discussions are at an advanced stage.In order to make as many contacts as possible, the President has taken the strategic decision to only stay in each city for a few hours.For example, shortly after his arrival yesterday in the capital city Beijing he met with his counterpart Xi Jinping after which he travelled to the city of Wuhan, provincial capital of Hubei province. This morning he met with Hubei governor Wang Guosheng before travelling to the city of Xiangyang where he visited rice production company Wanbao whose technicians are introducing new techniques in Mozambique’s Gaza province.On Wednesday President Guebuza will leave for the city of Shanghai, which will be the last destination in his tour.

Most of the loans to fund the proposed development projects will come from a twenty billion dollar fund set up by the Chinese government to support African countries through subsidised loans. The remaining amount will be secured from Chinese banks including the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) and the China Development Bank (CBD) at preferential interest rates.The Fund was launched during the fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in Beijing in July 2012.Mozambican businesses are eligible to receive money from the Fund if they can prove to be viable and fall within the Fund’s criteria.An analysis of the Mozambican government’s document shows that at least seventy of the projects are public-private partnerships and will consume more than half the ten billion dollars sought.These types of loans have the advantage of not perpetuating the country’s debt. In return for the loans China will receive raw materials for its vibrant industry and the construction of its infrastructures.Currently, China has more than 900 multinationals working on infrastructure in Africa and elsewhere.Among the multinationals working in Mozambique is SOGECOA, who over the last few years has built various public buildings in Maputo including the Joaquim Chissano Conference Centre, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maputo International Airport, the new headquarters of the Attorney General and the Palace of Justice.

For President Guebuza, these constructions are an intrinsic part of Chinese support to the Mozambican people, which began when China sent military experts to the military base at Nachingwea in Tanzania of the liberation movement Frelimo who was fighting against Portuguese colonialism.Speaking on Monday during an audience with the Chinese President, Guebuza said that China “helped us at a time when neither country had much, when we still had the struggle for our independence. The military experts sent to us went through the same difficulties and hardships that we faced, including shortages of drinking water”.

Inspired by the old Chinese proverbs “if you want to be rich you must first build roads” and “if you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people”, the majority of projects involve the construction or rehabilitation of roads, bridges, schools and professional training centres.Thus, the financing partially secured during previous visits to China by President Guebuza and government ministers is mainly for road construction including the Maputo ring road (costing 300 million dollars), the road linking the city of Beira to Machipanda (budgeted at 427 million dollars), the road from Bene to Zumbo (278 million dollars), from Inchope to Caia (196 million dollars), from Cuamba to Marrupa (184 million dollars), from Moamba to Manjacaze (180 million dollars), between Fudzi and Nhamapaza (139 million dollars), from Chimuara to Namacurra (120 million dollars), and the road linking Macossa to the main north-south highway – the EN1 (118 million).The educational sector will acquire 300 million dollars for the construction of schools and institutions. Of this amount, 200 million dollars will be invested in the construction of seven polytechnics in the provinces of Maputo, Inhambane, Sofala, Zambezia, Niassa and Cabo Delgado.The government will also invest 34 million dollars in the construction of three technical professional schools, namely the agrarian institute in Namaacha in Maputo province, and two industrial institutes in Nampula and Niassa province.The remaining funds will be spent on projects such as the rehabilitation of Nacala port and the building of the railway line between the port and the Moatize coal basin in Tete province.In addition to the ten billion dollars discussed above, Exim Bank is to finance the construction of a bridge linking Maputo city with the district of Katembe in a project valued at 725 million dollars.Meanwhile, the China Development Bank is looking at investing in the industrial zone in Nacala-a-Velha which has the potential to transform the north of Mozambique into the most developed region in the country and perhaps even in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

FRELIMO SUSPENDS ITS YOUTH OFFICIALS

Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party has suspended the entire executive secretariat of its youth wing, the OJM (Mozambican Youth Organisation).The Frelimo Central Committee Secretary for Social Organisations, Carlos Moreira Vasco, told reporters that the decision was taken by the party’s top leadership, its Political Commission, on Monday.Moreira Vasco gave no reasons for the measure, merely stating that the suspension arose from “internal matters in the life of the organization”.He added that, as soon as possible, the OJM Central Committee will meet to elect a new secretariat. He thought that some members of the suspended Secretariat might be re-elected. The secretariat that has now been dissolved was set up following the sixth national conference of the OJM, held in Ulongue in the western province of Tete. Then Basilio Muhate was elected general secretary with an overwhelming majority of votes – 200 against just 22 for the runner-up, Manuel Formiga.At the time, Muhate pledged to dedicate himself entirely to the cause of the OJM, to empower young people, to promote employment and self-employment, and to train young people at all levels so that they could become genuine development actors.Wednesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax” claims that Muhate has been accused of “insubordination”. The particular episode cited was a disagreement between Muhate and Frelimo General Secretary Filipe Paunde over the performance of the Maputo City OJM leadership, headed by Alex Muianga.When Paunde undertook a tour of Maputo City in mid-March, he praised the work done by Muianga and his colleagues. Two weeks later, Muhate, had a very different assessment of the OJM city leadership – so negative did he find their work that he sacked Muianga. “Mediafax” suggests that this apparent challenge to Paunde’s authority angered the Frelimo leadership and led to the Monday suspensions.Tensions had, however, been simmering for some time. At the Frelimo Tenth Congress last September, members of the OJM appeared wearing berets apparently imitated from the headgear favoured by Julius Malema (fhoto), the disgraced leader of the youth wing of the South African ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). The OJM is said to have been severely censured for this attitude at a meeting held behind closed doors.

14 CASES OF KIDNAPPING IN 2012 – ATTORNEY-GENERAL

The Mozambican Attorney-General’s Office in 2012 registered a total of 14 cases of kidnapping followed by ransom demands,In his annual report to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, delivered on Wednesday, Attorney-General Augusto Paulino said that currently 21 people are under arrest in connection with these cases. Paulino attributed the kidnappings to organised crime. He noted that the criminals selected their victims carefully, in order to extract large sums of money through blackmailing and threatening the victims and their relatives. Associated with the kidnappings were transactions of large sums of money, either in cash, or through bank transfers to accounts in other countries. The ransoms demanded have been as large as eight million US dollars.Paulino announced that prosecutors and agents of the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) have been allocated to work exclusively on the kidnappings and ransoms. Paulino also expressed serious concern at the trafficking in people, particularly for purposes of extracting human body parts, often used for witchcraft. He said his office recorded 30 cases of human trafficking in 2012, compared with 24 the previous year. Charges have been laid in 15 cases, six of which have come to trial. In addition to the removal of human organs, the cases of trafficking also involved forced labour and prostitution and debt servitude. Paulino said that cooperation with neighbouring countries, notably South Africa, has been advantageous in locating and supporting the victims of trafficking, and tracking down the criminals. The number of cases of mob justice, in which crowds took the law into their own hands and lynched suspected criminals, declined from 20 in 2011 to 14 in 2012. Most of these cases had occurred in central Mozambique – six in Zambezia province and six in Sofala. Paulino described lynching as a form of “contempt for reason and for the dignity due to all human beings”. He said preventive measures have been taken to halt these practices “but their occurrence remains a matter of concern, particularly in the city of Beira”.Turning to crimes of corruption, Paulino warned that large sums of money had been repeatedly siphoned out of certain public institutions, with enormous losses to the Mozambican state, which had to mobilize additional resources to replace what had been stolen. Such thefts, he said, took the form of duplicating wage sheets, paying wages to employees who did not exist, paying allowances to people who were not entitled to them, or paying travel expenses for more days than the trip actually took.The current indication of the cost of these fraudulent practices in 2012 is that the state lost 62.9 million meticais (about 2.1 million US dollars), of which only 17.4 million meticais and two motor-cycles had so far been recovered.Measures taken to combat the theft of state funds, Paulino said, included boosting and expanding the electronic State Financial Administration System (e-SISTAFE), and strengthening the internal and external audits of public institutions.As for the clashes in early April in the small town of Muxungue, in Sofala, in which armed members of the former rebel movement Renamo, murdered four members of the riot police, Paulino said that nothing justifies such violence. Criminal cases are now underway against 14 people, one of whom is still hospitalized. All are believed to be members of Renamo.Paulino called for restraint on the part of all political actors so that they do not incite their followers to violence. The figures given by Paulino showed a decline of 3.3 per cent in the number of crimes registered by the police – there were 41,228 crimes recorded in 2011, and 39,861 cases recorded in 2012. The number of citizens detained in connection with these crimes, however, had risen – from 9.473 in 2011 to 13,912 in 2012. 108 firearms were seized, compared with only 83 in 2011. More than a third of all crimes took place in Maputo city (8,364 cases) and Maputo province (7,814).Paulino called on the Assembly to strengthen Mozambican legislation against poaching. He noted that while in South Africa poachers were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, in Mozambique they get away with fines regardless of how much elephant ivory or rhino horns they are caught with.The impact of poaching on Mozambican wild life is devastating. The latest reports indicate that every single rhinoceros in the Limpopo National Park in Gaza province has been killed. In the country’s largest conservation area, the Niassa Reserve, in the far north, around 2,500 elephants have been slaughtered over the past two years.

KENYA AIRWAYS TO ADD EXTRA FLIGHT TO MAPUTO

Kenya Airways has announced that in June it is adding an extra flight from Nairobi to Maputo to meet rising demand. This will bring to four the number of flights operated by the airline.The additional flight departs from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Monday mornings arriving in Maputo at 13.55. It will then depart from Maputo on the return leg at 14.45.According to Kenya Airways’ Chief Executive Officer Titus Naikuni “there is increasing demand for air travel in the continent which makes Africa the new growth frontier in the aviation industry. It is, therefore, important for us to continue to grow our presence across the continent to meet this demand”.This is the latest in a string of new airline services to Mozambique.On 6 May British Airways launched its maiden flight between Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport and Maputo. The service, operated by Comair, is daily with two flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays.In addition, Mozambique’s national airline LAM announced at the end of April that it was launching new routes flying directly between Nampula and Johannesburg, Nampula and Nairobi (via Pemba), Nampula and Dar es Salaam, and between Tete and Johannesburg.LAM is also now flying three times a week to the Angolan capital city Luanda.

Mozambique

The Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), David Lipton, on Monday ended an official visit to Mozambique during which he praised the country's economic and social progress made over the last twenty years.During the visit he met with Prime Minister Alberto Vaquina, Finance Minister Manuel Chang, and the governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Ernesto Gove. He also met with representatives of the private sector, development partners, and civil society.According to Lipton, “during our discussions, I commended the authorities’ sustained commitment to prudent economic policies. I also welcomed their intention to maintain public investment at high levels and reduce the cost the private sector faces in doing business. Their intentions to foster the social and human development objectives are also commendable in light of the big challenges faced”.He added, “I welcomed the efforts underway to prepare for the significant regulatory and macroeconomic challenges of managing natural resources, especially coal and gas”.He said that making growth more inclusive remains one of the key priorities over the medium to longer term. He argued that the government is right in emphasising public investment in infrastructure, strengthening human capital through health, education and job training, and facilitating private economic activities.He was also in agreement with the government’s desire to expand basic social protection for the poorest members of the population.On the issue of Mozambique’s immense natural resources, Lipton stated that “the IMF is supporting Mozambique in its quest to build a transparent and well-managed natural resource revenue management system”.

Together for tolerance!

During the demonstrations for the 1st May, World Day of the Worker, the Rapid Intervention Force was dispatched to prevent taxi drivers (riders) in the city of Quelimane to participate in the demonstration because they supported in the midterm election of December 2011 in candidate of the Democratic Movement of Mozambique, MDM, Manuel de Araújo, who won so loose, the candidate the candidate of the ruling party. Also, the police stopped and arrested young MDM in Macia, who wished to express, in the meantime, the young of the ruling party, dresses Camisetes flags and loudly walked to his class. Simango says he is very angry at the persistently a government anti - popular and undemocratic that captured the state and the institutions that should be at the service of all Mozambicans. It is extremely shocking, what has been happening in the country on Labor Day because the government bailed up the Rapid Intervention Force, FIR, to prevent ordinary people from participating in a peaceful demonstration. Our Constitution provides that citizens have the right to freely expressed, however, it is systematically violated by the police and several holders of administrative institutions without anybody blame.

In our society, a large portion of our countrymen survive in the informal sector. Cyclists are legally associated Quelimane, do not need to ask permission to anyone to demonstrate. You can make the best expressions when they think. In Maputo, a citizen who survives by selling mobile credits marched unmolested.

Police act the way threatens stability and peace. Mozambican citizen does not live fearing the police. No one can live under constant threats from the police. We condemn this attitude of the police. Police did not have under the legal point of view, which prohibit cyclists from participating in the demonstration. They are taxi drivers that live in Quelimane and service they provide to the public as we here at Edge we licensed cabbies drive. In Quelimane for bicycle taxi drivers. Can not dismiss a taxi driver because driving a bike and not a car. All are professionals and as such, everyone has the right to demonstrate. The Constitution does not establish any form of discrimination on the matter. More condemn this attitude of the police, especially the way comes armed authenticates a demonstration of declared war against defenseless citizens.

What would have taken the FIR to act that way? It is because there is a boss who sends in the police. This boss is called Frelimo Party. Frelimo is above the Mozambican state and all public and private institutions. It is this arrogance that leads to strike the state. Can not punish. We have an Attorney General's Office that assists undaunted and serene the excesses of the Frelimo Party. There are constant violations of human rights and says nothing. What happened in Quelimane is equal to the passed in Macia, Gaza. Members of the Democratic Movement Movement were prevented by police from marching in celebration of Labor Day. A young man named Herminio Mahanuque, leader of our Youth League was kept in the prison police from 08 to 16 hours, so as to inhibit our youth to march as members of the Organization of Mozambican Youth (youth league of the ruling party since National Independence) manifested freely Camisetes dresses and carrying flags of their party. Holders of the scheme say this travesty of democracy and above all speak who want to preserve the peace. With the mouth of peace while in practice sent to arrest the opposition, withdraw and tear and burn our flags our headquarters. We are against this attitude of the police chase a defenseless citizen who intend to use their constitutional rights. We condemn the police and their clients when they make black life to peaceful citizens. The Interior Minister has to explain to Mozambicans the reasons FIR prevent free professional and peaceful to express themselves. Where is the political tolerance? - It's all a big lie. The problem that we live beyond the issue of political tolerance. When police attack defenseless citizens seeking to express their feelings, it goes beyond the issue of political tolerance. The matter is much more serious than one can imagine. We have an unruly and undemocratic country that uses every means at its disposal, including illegal methods, to perpetuate itself in power, even against the popular will, emphasizes Simango.(President of MDM)

CNE / ONP / FRELIMO / RENAMO / MDM

The head of Mozambique’s parliamentary commission on constitutional and legal matters, Teodoro Waty, pledged on Tuesday that his commission will be strictly guided by criteria of legality and respect for the constitution, when it analyses the nomination papers of the 15 candidates for the three seats reserved for civil society organizations on the National Elections Commission (CNE) – including the controversial attempt by the current CNE chairperson, Joao Leopoldo da Costa, to secure a second term on the electoral body. Waty was speaking to reporters after a parliamentary hearing in which the 15 candidates answered questions from deputies concerning the CNE, and the contribution each of them could make to the electoral body. Costa was among those quizzed – despite the fact that the body which allegedly proposed him, the National Teachers Union (ONP), has disowned his candidacy, accusing those who proposed Costa of forging ONP documents.The outgoing CNE contains five nominees from political parties (three from the ruling Frelimo Party and two from the former rebel movement Renamo), and eight from civil society. But the new electoral law, approved in December, skews the composition of the CNE in favour of political parties, largely in order to accommodate the second opposition force, the MDM (Mozambique Democratic Movement).There will now be eight CNE members appointed by the political parties (five by Frelimo, two by Renamo and one by the MDM), a judge appointed by the Higher Council of the Judicial Magistracy, an attorney appointed by the Higher Council of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and only three nominees from civil society. 24 Nominations from civil society bodies were sent to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, where an ad-hoc commission drew up a short list of 16, which will eventually be submitted to the Assembly plenary which must elect, by secret ballot, just three of them to sit on the CNE.A shadow has been cast over this whole procedure by the fraudulent attempt to gain a second term for Costa. The ONP document supposedly proposing Costa was signed by Safira Stefane Mahanjae, who was elected to the ONP National Secretariat from the southern province of Gaza.

But the ONP President, Beatriz Muhoro, told reporters last week that Mahanjae had no power to sign any correspondence at all in the name of the union. Mahanjae has indeed been elected to the Secretariat, but has not yet taken office.The old secretariat of the ONP was dissolved on 26 March – a week before the meeting at which the ONP is supposed to have decided in favour of supporting Costa’s candidacy. The ONP’s new secretariat and National Council have not yet been sworn into office. “Currently it is only the union’s Presidency that is taking decisions”, Muhoro insisted. The ONP statutes are clear on this – while the new secretariat has not taken office, all its powers are exercised by the Presidency. The ONP has set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the full circumstances in which the fraudulent documents supporting Costa’s CNE candidacy were drawn up. Naturally, during the Tuesday hearing deputies asked Costa about this. He claimed he had nothing to do with the polemic. Costa insisted that he had been invited to stand by the ONP, and had simply accepted the nomination.This would have been a good moment for Costa to defend his good name and withdraw his candidacy. Instead, he said it was not up to him to withdraw his name, but up to those who had proposed him.
Waty tried to smooth the problem over, claiming that everyone in the controversy believed they had acted in good faith. “From what we could hear from the parties involved”, he told the reporters, “it seems that the candidate Joao Leopoldo da Costa believed that he was being proposed by somebody with the legitimacy to do so. The national secretariat of the ONP seems also to have believe that it has the legitimacy to nominate him, while the President of the ONP thinks that only she should present a candidate at this level”. Waty added that Costa’s candidacy would remain “until we adopt our opinion. The opinion has not yet been produced, and once produced, it must be adopted. Before it is adopted there will be a debate in the commission, and I believe we shall be guided in our opinion by respect for legality and the constitution”.Meanwhile one of the genuine civil society candidates, Benilde Nhalivilo, has withdrawn her name in disgust. Nhalivilo, a women’s rights activist, was proposed by the most credible civil society coalition, the Electoral Observatory. The Observatory consists of the main religious denominations (catholic, protestant and moslem), and a number of prominent NGOs, including the Human Rights League.Her letters to the Assembly, and to the Electoral Observatory, withdrawing her name stated, in obvious reference to the scandal surrounding Costa, that the attempt to legitimate candidates “in a dubious and unclear manner” showed “that there is a strong trend to place pre-determined people on the CNE”. “I do not want to see my image and my dignity, acquired over 20 years dedicated to the cause of human rights and to genuine civil society, associated to situations of lack of transparency and non –professionalism”.“This decision is not an act of weakness”, she added, “but an act of respect, transparency and justice, the values for which I have always fought. I would like to express my willingness and availability to represent civil society or the country in forums and processes as long as these are fair and transparent”.