14 February 2008
Maputo — The parliamentary group of Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, is seeking to have an article in the law on provincial assemblies declared unconstitutional - even though Renamo voted in favour of this law when it was debated in the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, in November 2006.
The head of the Renamo parliamentary group, Maria Moreno, told AIM that Renamo submitted its request on Wednesday to the Constitutional Council, the body which takes the final decision in matters of constitutional law.
Some of the Mozambican media claim that Renamo's objection is that the law allows the central government to dissolve any provincial assembly that obstructs the functioning of other state bodies.
That was indeed envisaged in the bill that the government submitted to parliament in 2006 - however, the text was changed during the debate, precisely because, as the parliamentary legal affairs commission put it, "Provincial Assemblies, as bodies that emanate from the people's will, legitimized by universal suffrage, cannot be dissolved by a body of indirect democratic legitimacy, such as the government".
So, on the suggestion of the Commission, including its Renamo members, the text of the bill was changed. The version finally approved by the deputies gave the Assembly of the Republic the power to dissolve provincial assemblies "on the proposal of the government", in the event that an assembly obstructs other state bodies, or rejects twice the provincial government's plan and budget, for reasons that can be imputed to the provincial assembly rather than to the government.
In November 2006, the Renamo parliamentary group found this fully satisfactory. The bill was passed into law unanimously - and Renamo was delighted. Maria Moreno could even be seen doing a victory dance on the Assembly podium.
Yet now Renamo wants to have the law declared unconstitutional, apparently because dissolving provincial assemblies is not in the list of powers granted to the Assembly of the Republic in Article 179 of the constitution.
It is remarkable that it has taken Renamo 15 months to reach the conclusion that a law it voted for so enthusiastically is unconstitutional. In mid-2007, there was no talk about referring the law to the Constitutional Council - instead Renamo was all in favour of holding the first elections to provincial assemblies in late 2007, or in January 2008. It took a considerable amount of work by the majority Frelimo Party, and by forces outside parliament, to persuade Renamo that the elections ought to be postponed (partly because elections in the rainy season are a logistical nightmare, and partly because of the enormous difficulties encountered in the computerised registration of the entire electorate).
If Renamo is successful, and the Constitutional Council declares the law unconstitutional, it will be impossible to hold elections for Provincial Assemblies in 2008. For the government would have to redraft the law, and submit it once again to the Assembly of the Republic. This is unlikely to happen in time for the next sitting of the Assembly, due to run from 1 March to mid-May.
The effect will be to move the provincial elections to 2009, almost certainly on the same day as the next presidential and parliamentary elections. This is something that Frelimo favours, but which Renamo strongly opposed when the suggestion was made last year.
Possibly Renamo has lost interest in the provincial assemblies - even though they were only put into the 2004 constitution in the first place at Renamo's insistence. They are bodies with very few powers, and there is no grass roots pressure for setting up such assemblies.
The provincial assemblies have no legislative powers. They merely approve the programme of the provincial government, and monitor compliance with it. The Assemblies will only meet twice a year, for no more than ten days on each occasion.
When AIM asked Maria Moreno why Renamo deputies were turning against a law they had unanimously supported, she replied that "even President Guebuza" had passed decrees which later turned out to be unconstitutional. So it was indeed possible that in 2006, the Assembly had made "a mistake".
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
