“Let’s have no illusions: 2020 is a lost year”

Former Mozambican Prime Minister Luisa Diogo has warned that nobody should be under any illusion – 2020 “is a lost year”, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has laid waste much of the Mozambican economy. Interviewed by Radio Mozambique, on the occasion of the 45^th anniversary of Mozambican independence, celebrated last Thursday, Diogo was clearly irritated by repeated claims by the Education Ministry that the 2020 school year is not lost, despite the closure of all schools for the past three months.

 

“In all conscience, we must recognize that this is a lost year”, said Diogo. “It is not worth fooling ourselves that most pupils had access to technology.

We can’t be under the illusion that all pupils managed to go to school to pick up the notes. Even in the case of those who have access to technology, we can’t deceive ourselves that

they understood the lessons properly by following the teacher through Zoom” . The government tried to compensate for the schools closure through distance learning. Lessons were broadcast over radio and television. Pupils were supposed to pick up notes from their schools to help them follow the lessons. Many did not do so and pupils without access to radio or television could not follow the distance learning classes. In the political area, continued Diogo, the pandemic “is a test which has taught us that, when the matter is serious, political colours don’t count. We are all involved in saving lives. And Mozambique is setting an example.” Everyone was supporting government policy on Covid-19, she noted, and there were no conflicting messages. “Nobody is saying anything different”, said Diogo. “Nobody is launching messages to contradict what the government is doing”.

 

Diogo also believed that the Mozambican economy will never be the same again, because

Mozambique is at last directing its attention towards agriculture. The Mozambican constitution has always described agriculture as the base of the national economy, but often this principle has not been reflected in government policy, and in recent years the top priority has clearly been development of the country’s hydrocarbon resources. “We know that oil and gas logistics are very volatile”, said Diogo. With the current constraints that the gas and oil sector are facing, “agriculture once again becomes the basis of the country’s development. I think that agriculture will merit much more attention so that it can occupy its due space in the structure of the Gross Domestic Product. The programmes designed by the government are putting agriculture in its rightful place”.