RENAMO WALKS OUT OF PARLIAMENT

Parliamentary deputies of Mozambique’s main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, on Tuesday boycotted the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, rather than listen to a report from the ad-hoc committee set up to consider amendments to the constitution.The commission was set up last year, but Renamo refused to appoint the three members to which it is entitled. Currently, the commission consists of 16 deputies from the majority Frelimo Party, and one from the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM). Renamo protested, accurately enough, that Frelimo has not indicated which parts of the constitution it wishes to amend. It also complained at the budget for the commission of 20 million meticais (about 656,000 US dollars), which it argued could be better spent on other tasks.Thus when the commission chairperson, Eduardo Mulembue, began delivering his report, all Renamo deputies present walked out of the chamber, thus ensuring that only Frelimo and the MDM would take part in the brief debate.Mulembue said that to date the Commission has only held two meetings, largely because of lengthy delays in publishing the resolutions that established it and appointed its chairperson in the official gazette, the “Boletim da Republica”. Such delays are habitual, and are beyond the control of the Assembly or its commissions.The Commission has only discussed its calendar and its internal organisation and methodology – as a result, there is still no clarity as to which parts of the constitution will be amended.For the rest of this year, Mulembue said, the Commission would publicly launch the revision of the constitution and ask for proposed amendments, not only from the three parliamentary parties, but from all other private and public bodies and from individuals. After these proposals are received, the commission would start drafting a law to overhaul the constitution.The programme outlined by Mulembue also includes study visits by Commission members to South Africa and Tanzania.Mulembue hoped that Renamo would rethink its position and would appoint its members to the commission. His words were echoed by the Assembly’s chairperson, Veronica Macamo, who hoped that amendments to the constitution could be adopted by consensus (although Frelimo’s overwhelming majority in the Assembly allows it to pass amendments without Renamo votes).For the MDM, Alcinda da Conceicao said the lack of clarity about what was to be amended was “problematic”. Nonetheless, the MDM was committed to taking part “because we are in favour of inclusion and the debate of ideas. We are against excluding ourselves”. Last year fears were expressed that Frelimo wanted to amend the current constitutional restriction on presidential terms of office. The constitution states that no citizen may hold more than two consecutive terms as President of the Republic.Frelimo has insisted that it is not attempting to secure a third term for the current President, Armando Guebuza, and Guebuza himself has repeatedly stated that he is not interested in a third term.Frelimo has also said that it merely wishes to improve the constitution along its current lines, and does not intend to make radical changes.