FRELIMO CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETS

The fight against poverty is at the top of the agenda of a meeting of the Central Committee of Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo Party that began on Thursday afternoon in the southern city of Matola.The party’s spokesperson, and secretary for mobilization and propaganda, Edson Macuacua, told reporters “the central theme of this meeting will be the struggle against poverty. The Central Committee will discuss how to involve Mozambicans more actively in the fight against poverty”.He insisted that Mozambique enjoyed all the necessary conditions to defeat poverty. “We have a clear-minded and visionary leadership, very clear and daring policies, a country rich in resources, and a hard working people”, he said.The decision to discuss the fight against poverty at Central Committee level, Macuacua added, showed that Frelimo is not a party that regards victory in elections as an end in itself. Instead, winning elections renewed the democratic legitimacy of Frelimo so that it could comply with its mission to serve the Mozambican people, by leading the fight against poverty.He said the meeting will also discuss amending the Mozambican constitution. It would give Central Committee members the chance to state specifically which parts of the Constitution they believe should be changed, and which should be consolidated. Central Committee members might also wish to add matters that were not covered by the current constitution.”After this, we will be able, as a party, to advance with a draft for amending the constitution, Macuacua added.But he did not give any hint as to which articles in the Constitution might be changed. But in an interview earlier this week in the daily paper “Noticias”, Macuacua categorically ruled out any alteration in the term limits for the presidency that would allow the current head of state, Armando Guebuza, to stand for a third term of office in the general elections of 2014.“President Guebuza has already publicly and unequivocally stated that he does not want a third term and has no intention of standing again”, he pointed out. “We have already stated that the direction of any constitutional amendment should be one of continuity with the current constitutional order”.Asked about the date of the next Frelimo Congress (its 10th), Macuacua said that was a decision to be taken by the Central Committee and “so far absolutely no decision has been taken on the matter”.The ninth congress was held in the central city of Quelimane in November 2006. Since Congresses should be held every five years, the next one should be in late 2011.