7 August 2008
Maputo — Lourenco Bulha, first secretary of the ruling Frelimo Party in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, has categorically denied offering money to Geraldo Carvalho, the Beira city spokesperson for the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo.
Bulha's name was dragged into an internal Renamo dispute when Renamo dissident Mario Barbito publicly alleged that Carvalho and his father had both asked Bulha for money. This followed a claim by Carvalho that Barbito is not even a member of Renamo.
Bulha told the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique" that the story was nonsense, and that he had no relations of any kind with the Carvalho family.
"Barbito said that Geraldo and his father have received my money", said Bulha. "This isn't true. I don't have any relations with these people, and so I haven't given them any money at all".
He said he could only presume that Barbito was making such allegations in order to damage Geraldo's standing within Renamo.
There is a dispute inside Renamo over who should be the candidate for mayor of Beira in the local elections scheduled for 19 November. Beira is one of the five municipalities that have Renamo mayors, and the Renamo leadership has decided to stand the current mayor, Daviz Simango, for a second term.
But one trend within Renamo objects to Simango because he is not a member of Renamo at all, but of the National Convention Party (PCN), one of the minor parties in the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition. The dissidents had wanted to run Renamo parliamentarian Manuel Pereira instead of Simango, but Pereira now says he is backing Simango.
Barbito says the dissidents have an alternative candidate, but has not announced his or her name.
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