17 April 2008
Maputo — The local capacity to generate revenue is the main criterion to bring a town to the category of municipality, reports Thursday's issue of the daily 'Noticias', citing State Administration Minister Lucas Chomera.
Speaking in Maputo on Wednesday, Chomera was explaining the criteria that determined the selection of 10 towns to make them municipalities, adding to existing 33.
He noted that to this stage, municipalities have been able to generate no more than 30 per cent of their budget, the remainder 70 per cent being covered by the state.
He explained that it was looking at the medium term fiscal scenario that the government decided to draft and submit to the parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, the proposal of creating municipalities in 10 towns in the southern, central and northern regions of the country.
The towns in question include Namaacha, and Macia, in southern Maputo, and Gaza, respectively, Massinga, in southern Inhambane, and in the central region provinces are Gorongosa, in Sofala, Gondola, in Manica Alto Molocue, in Zambezia, Ulongue, in Tete. In the northern provinces were chosen Ribaue and Murrupula in Nampula, and Mueda, in Cabo Delgado.
Chomera rebuffed accusations by former rebel movement Renamo, the biggest opposition party in the country, that political criteria were used to select those towns to make them municipalities.
He reiterated that many criteria were used, including the town's capacity to generate revenue, and geographical localization.
Denying the political criteria, Chomera explained that, for instance, data from the 2004 general elections show that the ruling Frelimo party won in more than 80 towns, and thus any proposal by the government to create municipalities in many towns would be seen as obeying to political criteria.
Another example is that in the Gorongosa town, that used to be Renamo's stronghold during its war of destabilisation, this party won in the 2004 elections which, following Renamo's argument of political criteria, it would probably win in the forthcoming elections.
On a question about whether the creation to choose the ten new municipalities took into account the weaknesses noted in the existing 33, Chomera explained that if in 1998 there were some problems in interpreting the legislation on the part of municipal organs, the situation has improved with the training offered to them.
During the first years of municipal functioning, some cases were reported of misunderstandings between mayors and the chairpersons of the municipal assemblies, all due to differences in the interpretation of the law.
Chomera is due to go to the parliament in the next few days to defend the government's proposal to create the 10 new municipalities.
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.
