Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Thursday warned that the government will demand from the Constitutional Council the same rigour in the management of public resources as is demanded from all other state bodies.He was speaking immediately after swearing Hermenegildo Gamito into office as the new chairperson of the Council, which is the highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law.Gamito takes over a body that suffered a serious blow to its prestige with the revelations in March that his predecessor, Luis Mondlane, had used Council funds for his personal benefit, including paying off the mortgage on a luxury house in central Maputo. The revelations in the Mozambican press led Mondlane to resign on 17 March. A commission of inquiry set up by the other six judges on the Council found evidence of serious abuses, and as a result Mondlane is facing disciplinary and possibly criminal proceedings. Clearly Guebuza had this scandal uppermost in his mind when he said “The council will be required to show the same rigour, parsimony and capacity to manage the public resources allocated to it which are required of all the sovereign organs of the Mozambican state”.He added that, in the current scenario, characterized by growing expectations among citizens about the quantity and quality of public services, the Council should guide its activity towards obtaining gains in efficiency, fighting against obstacles to national development.The cornerstones of the Council’s performance, said Guebuza, should be legal wisdom, scientific rigour and technical proficiency. These would allow it to perform its constitutional role, which was of great relevance for consolidating the democratic rule of law in Mozambique.Guebuza called for healthy coordination between the Council and the other sovereign bodies, and other institutions responsible for electoral management. He hoped that the Council would consolidate dialogue between institutions “based on mutual respect, on loyalty, and exchange of knowledge”. Speaking to reporters, Guebuza said he had accepted the challenge of heading the Constitutional Council as “a call from the motherland”. His first task would be to analyse in details the situation in the Council, and set up a leadership collective.Asked whether the recent events had not brought the Council into disrepute, Gamito declined to comment. “It would not be ethical on my part to refer to my predecessor with words of less respect”, he said, pledging that he intended to work “with humility”.
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