10 March 2008
Maputo — The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Monday declared that it could see nothing unconstitutional in a law passed in late 2006 setting up directly elected provincial assemblies.
Although the deputies of the opposition Renamo-Electoral Union originally voted unanimously in favour of the bill, they have now changed their minds. 86 Renamo deputies submitted a petition to the Constitutional Council, the highest body in matters of constitutional law, asking it to declare Article 34 of the law unconstitutional.
This article states that a provincial assembly may be dissolved by the Assembly of the Republic, on the proposal of the government, if that assembly rejects twice the provincial government's proposed plan and budget, and for reasons that can be imputed to the provincial assembly rather than to the government.
In November 2006, when the bill was passed, Renamo could see nothing wrong with this, but now it is asking the Constitutional Council to throw it out, on the grounds that the Constitution does not explicitly grant either the Assembly of the Republic or the government the power to dissolve provincial assemblies.
After receiving the Renamo petition, the Council asked the Assembly for its reaction. So on Monday, the Assembly plenary voted in favour of an opinion from its Legal Affairs Commission which argued that the law does not violate the constitution.
The Legal Affairs Commission pointed out that the constitution allows for the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic itself, and of elected municipal assemblies. A correct interpretation of the constitution was that the possibility of dissolution should also extend to the provincial assemblies.
Furthermore, the establishment of provincial assemblies was an imperative arising from the constitution. Article 142 of the constitution declared that such bodies should exist, but left all details of their "composition, organisation, functioning and other powers" to an ordinary law to be drafted by parliament.
This, in the Commission's view, covered such issues as the possible dissolution of Assemblies, and the deputies had simply done their constitutional duty when they passed the law on provincial assemblies in 2006.
Acucena Duarte, of the ruling Frelimo Party, argued that the laws or statutes governing any institution always contain provision for its dissolution - this was true for companies and associations, and ought to be true of elected bodies as well. It was perfectly legitimate that the law "should deal not only with how the assemblies are constituted, bit also with how they are dissolved".
She warned that revoking this article would lead to a "chaotic situation", in which provincial assemblies were the only bodies in the country that could not be dissolved.
For Renamo, Jose Monteiro argued that since the list of powers of the government and of the Assembly of the Republic given in the constitution do not include the dissolution of provincial assemblies, this article in the law must be unconstitutional. His speech then lost all coherence as he rambled about "dictatorship", and descended into a gratuitous attack on the office of the First Lady, Maria de Luz Guebuza.
Frelimo Deputy Alfredo Gamito reminded Renamo that the controversial article was not written by the government. The Assembly's working commissions had drafted the article, and at the time their Renamo members had all agreed with it.
"Article 34 is the exclusive responsibility of this Assembly, and the government just accepted it", he said. That article, and the whole law, had been adopted by consensus, "and you voted unanimously in favour of it !"
"A year later the same deputies are calling for it to be declared unconstitutional", said Gamito. "You are being dishonest with yourselves, as well as with the commissions and with the plenary. You were part of the consensus and now you want to abandon it".
"Renamo doesn't want the provincial elections or the deepening of democracy", concluded Gamito.
Luis Boavida retorted "if anyone is afraid of the provincial elections, it's Frelimo and not Renamo". He claimed that Renamo "is honest and is admitting that we, and the Assembly of the Republic, made a mistake".
"We want to correct that mistake", he declared. "Frelimo wants the mistake to be permanent".
When the opinion from the Legal Affairs Commission was put to the vote, it passed with the 152 Frelimo deputies present voting in favour, and the 84 Renamo deputies voting against.
The opinion will now go to the Constitutional Council which will have the final say as to whether Article 34 of the law on provincial assemblies violates the Constitution or not.
Pf/ (761)
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.
