RENAMO ELECTION DEMANDS WILL COST 35 MILLION DOLLARS

The demands by the former rebel movement Renamo for entirely politicized electoral bodies, and accepted by the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic in February, will cost the country about 35 million US dollars, according to a report in Monday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”.The deal, arising out of the dialogue between the Mozambican government and Renamo, dramatically expands the size of the election commissions, and of branches of the executive body, the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE) at all levels – national, political, district and city.According to Rogerio Nkomo, national budgetary director in the Ministry of Finance, the new structure involves the recruitment of around 3,000 people appointed by the three parliamentary political parties – the ruling Frelimo Party, Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM). All will be treated as state employees, and all will be entitled to wages and various other allowances.Nkomo said the calculations have been done, and the sum required is in the order of 35 million dollars.This will be a major component of the amended budget for 2014 which the government plans to submit to parliament during the current sitting. Finance Minister Manuel Chang has already announced that the amended budget must also include long overdue Value Added Tax (VAT) rebates for companies, plus the sum (an estimated 15 million dollars) required to finish projects that were included under the compact with the US Millennum Challenge Corporation (MCC), but were not concluded by the cutoff date of September last year.All this additional expenditure will be paid for out of the capital gains tax paid on shares transactions involving companies exploring the natural gas reserves in the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado.