OZAMBIQUE’S HIGHER MASS MEDIA COUNCIL INOPERATIVE

Tomas Vieira Mario, the Chairperson of Mozambique’s Higher Media Council (CSCS) complains that this body, which has a mandate to oversee the press freedom and the right to information in the country, has virtually come to a standstill due to lack of quorum.There should be seven members of CSCS chosen by the Assembly of the Republic, the Mozambican parliament, appointed by the three parliamentary groups, namely the ruling party Frelimo, the main opposition movement Renamo and the second largest opposition party Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).However, Renamo rejects the presence of MDM in the Council, claiming that it doesn’t have the minimum number of deputies required to appoint a member in that body. 'The CSCS is a collective body that works by deliberation and the Chairperson is unable to do anything because of this parliamentary dispute over the presence of political parties in the CSCS,' said Tomas Vieira Mario, quoted by Radio Mozambique (RM). Tomas Vieira Mario believes that the CSCS should never be used as a stage for political debate since it is a space for the defence of freedom of expression and right to information. 'What transpired outside is that one of the parties represented in parliament does not accept another party under the same conditions to be represented in this body,' he said.The Chairperson CSCS laments the current situation saying that he had hoped there would be a quick consensus to prevent this body to be paralyzed at the detriment of Mozambicans who will find unable to lodge any complaint should their rights or freedom of expressions be violated. Therefore, he believes that the current methodology to appoint members for this body should be redesigned to prevent the CSCS to be held hostage by political parties. Currently there are four members in the CSCS, being three appointed by the Judiciary and one by the Mozambican President. This totals four, with seven yet to be appointed by the three political groupings in the parliament.