Has to free itself of toxic cargo not to sink

In this election year, FRELIMO risks paying a high price on the ballot with the scandal involving former Mozambican finance minister Manuel Chang. And for this, the party needs to clean their image.“Silence is golden” may be the adage that prevails at the moment in Mozambique’s ruling party following the US Justice’s action against prominent members of FRELIMO, who have been accused of financial crimes.Since the arrest of deputy and former Finance Minister Manuel Chang on December 29, there has been no official position on the matter. Political analyst Calton Cadeado believes that silence is nothing more than strategy.

“It is that at the moment, silence seems like a way to avoid burning wood at the stake. The timing to speak may be something that is being addressed, because it does not seem to me to be that strategy of letting things die on their own until it appears a new and more significant event. This issue will extend until the eve of the elections this year, I have no doubt about that,” Cadeado says.

The US action against FRELIMO figures is understood as a kind of final blow against the party, which witnesses a marked deterioration in image from year to year.Several factors are to be highlighted, such as the fall in popularity due to constant cases of corruption involving its members, the apparent involvement of militants in cases of blatant electoral fraud and the illegal debts contracted by their government, which left the country in a financial crisis never seen before.Good governance expert Silvestre Baessa reminds us that there can still be salvation.“FRELIMO’s issue at the moment is: the boat has all the conditions or is ready to sink, but there is a possibility of sinking later if they are released from a toxic load and the toxic cargo is properly identified,” Baessa says.

Despite the absence of a voluntary pronouncement from FRELIMO, respected members reacted to Chang’s case when confronted by the national press, as in the case of former President Joaquim Chissano and former Finance Minister Tomás Salomão. Salomão says justice be done anywhere for the case to serve as an example. This is an appreciated position, since it is not common for FRELIMO members to reach out to the handgun.

Baessa recalls that FRELIMO has many internal problems that have now become more public in recent years.“I think it is clear, especially for militants like Tomas Salomão, who is on the frontline and who has been leading the FRELIMO campaign in the province of Nampula, which the image of a highly corrupt party is not favouring electoral campaigns and this toxic information needs to be completely disassociated with FRELIMO,” says Baessa.

This being an election year, the scandals are a great inconvenience, especially for a party shaken by illicit transactions and showing signs of decay. In order to rebuild itself, in addition to distancing itself from illicit activities, FRELIMO needs to fundamentally cleanse its image. We must respond satisfactorily to an electorate that is increasingly demanding.“FRELIMO cannot defend or protect a militant, especially when it gives very clear evidence [of having participated in illegalities] and above all, because there is a public trial that shows that the electorate is not waiting for another answer, if not this one. Tomás Salomão is saying that FRELIMO needs to make a kind of distinction between what is accepted and what is not,” Baessa concludes.