GOVERNMENT INTRODUCES 5 YEAR PROGRAMME IN ASSEMBLY

Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario on Wednesday introduced the government’s five year programme for the 2015-2019 period into the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, stressing that the central objective of the programme is “to improve the living conditions of the Mozambican people by increasing employment, production and competitiveness, creating wealth and generating balanced and inclusive development, in an environment of peace, security, harmony, solidarity, justice and cohesion among Mozambicans”. Although deputies from the former rebel movement Renamo complained that the programme lacks indicators, in reality the programme is full of targets and indicators.Thus in education, the government plans to raise the number of children who enter first grade of primary education at the correct age (six years) from the 2014 figure of 81 per cent to 86 per cent by 2019. Less impressive is the modest target for teaching children to read and write. The number of children in third grade who have basic reading and writing skills should rise from the current shockingly low figure of 6.3 per cent to around 12 per cent.In health care, the number of births in health units should rise from 71 to 75 per cent. The government hopes to increase the number of children fully vaccinated from 82 to 94 per cent.The programme also aims to cut the child malnutrition rate by half. Currently over 40 per cent of all Mozambican children under the age of five are suffering from chronic malnutrition. The government hopes to bring this down to 20 per cent by 2019.The number of health professionals per 100,000 people should rise from 94 to 113.3, and the number of district hospitals should increase from 44 to 60.The programme aims to increase the number of women screened for cervical cancer from one per cent of all women aged between 30 and 55 to 15 per cent.As for access to safe drinking water, the programme aims to increase the figure from 52 to 75 per cent of the population in rural areas, and from 85 to 90 per cent in urban areas. Over the five year period, the government plans to raise access to decent sanitation from 15 to 50 per cent in the countryside and from 50 to 80 per cent in the towns and cities.As for the economy, the government plans to maintain a growth rate of between seven and eight per cent a year, and to keep annual inflation under ten per cent, The budget deficit before grants should be lower than 22 per cent of the GDP.The programme also sets out to create 1.5 million new jobs over the five year period, provide professional training for 700,000 people and promote more than 15,000 professional apprenticeships a year. But 300,000 new jobs a year is simply not enough for the number of young Mozambicans entering the labour market. According to the projections from the 2007 population census, over half a million Mozambicans celebrate their 18th birthday every year.
The contribution made by manufacturing to the Gross Domestic Product should rise from the current figure of 11 per cent to 21 per cent by 2019.Rosario confirmed the government’s intention to build a new port at Macuse in Zambezia province, and a railway connecting Macuse to the Moatize coal basin in Tete. However the viability of this port depends on coal exports, which in turn depends on the world market price for coal, currently very depressed. Also on the drawing board are new hydro-electric dams at Mpanda Nkua and Boroma on the Zambezi, as well the construction of a second power station at the existing Cahora Bassa dam. There is nothing new about these projects, but they cannot go ahead until firm buyers are found for the electricity they will generate. The programme plans to raise the proportion of the population with electricity in their homes (either from the national grid or from solar panels) from 45 to 55 per cent. As for roads, the programme aims to ensure that the percentage of the Mozambican network of national and regional roads in “good” or “reasonable” condition rises from 68 to 75 per cent.  Rosario declared that the government intends to build the democratic rule of law, and to improve the business environment through “the continued simplification of procedures”. The Programme will be debated for at least the next two days. Frelimo, which holds 144 of the 250 Assembly seats, will certainly ensure that the programme passes. The parliamentary groups of both Renamo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) have pledged to vote against.