Renamo and MDM prepare possible coalition
Ossudo Momade, President of Mozambique’s main opposition party, Renamo, and his counterpart from the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), Lutero Simango, met on Wednesday in Maputo, in order to debate the country's socio-economic life, opening space for a possible political coalition in the forthcoming elections.
“Everyone knows that we are at the door of the municipal elections (scheduled for October 2023). It is necessary that we find a way to satisfy the Mozambican people in terms of socio-economic liberation”, Momade said. But he warned “we are not talking about a coalition yet. It is premature to talk about coalitions.”
“We are ready for more meetings, because it is necessary that we find a way to liberate Mozambicans. For the coalition, we need to work and get to know our parties”, the Renamo president stated.
The people, according to Momade, are going through difficult times, and the slow functioning of institutions and corruption are the phenomena that most plague the Public Service.
“When we talk about the critical situation experienced by Mozambicans, we have to highlight, in the first place, the civil service that is struggling with corruption and the slowness that is experienced by users”, Momade said.
Regarding the strike by doctors, now in its third day, Momade said “our population is left to its fate; no one knows what happens in the hospitals.”
“The doctors' strike is worrisome and the great responsibility lies with the government that cannot solve the problems of the employees of the state apparatus”, he claimed.
Momade also called on the government to seek solutions so that people have adequate assistance in hospitals, “because it makes no sense for a patient to spend over 10 hours in a queue.”
According to the Renamo president, he and Simango also discussed the resources that are being exploited in the country, notably natural gas and heavy mineral sands.
“These resources do not benefit Mozambicans. We followed, through the press, that gas is already being exported, but none of us [opposition parties] was informed, we are unaware of the existing agreements between the government and the companies”, he said.
“We also debated about the elections, the way the polling stations are composed. We should work to create a law that guarantees electoral transparency, so that the opposition parties are also in the brigades of the polling stations”, he said.
(In fact, this is already the case – thanks to opposition demands the last time the election legislation was amended, Frelimo, Renamo and the MDM are already entitled to appoint one member to the staff of every polling station in the country. This is in addition to the polling station monitors that each of the competing parties may appoint).
For his part, Lutero Simango, president of the MDM, said “this was an exploratory meeting to discuss the national political situation”.
“We found that the country is being misgoverned and captured in a web of widespread corruption”, Simango stated. “We made the commitment that there will be other meetings in search of solutions for Mozambique and the well-being of the people.”
Simango also said that issues linked to unemployment and housing for the youth layer were debated, advancing that “the solution to Mozambique's problems is in our hands.”
