26 August 2008
Mabote — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Tuesday urged residents of Mabote district, in the southern province of Inhambane, to build small reservoirs to retain rain water, so that it could be used in periods of drought.
Speaking at a rally in Mabote, at the start of a working visit to Inhambane, Guebuza stressed the importance of harvesting rain water, particularly in those parts of the country, such as Mabote, that are subject to cyclical droughts.
He explained that what the government hopes to achieve with the decision to embark on a "Green Revolution" is precisely to adopt practices and techniques to maximize food production, even in periods when it does not rain.
Guebuza added that harvesting rain water is a common practice in many countries. They do so to avoid the risk of running out of water, for people and for livestock, during the dry season.
The President urged Mozambicans to use their creativity and intelligence to find solution to problems that at first sight might seem insoluble. It was precisely by using that intelligence and creativity, he added, that Mozambicans were able to defeat a European army and win their independence.
At the time, he recalled, there had been a great deal of scepticism when the founder of Mozambican nationalism, Eduardo Mondlane, said it was possible to overthrow Portuguese colonial rule - just as today there are many who do not believe it is possible to eradicate poverty in Mozambique.
This scepticism, Guebuza argued, was irrational, since every day one can watch on television the achievements of countries who have succeeded in throwing off the yoke of poverty, thanks to the hard work of their peoples.
But Guebuza was optimistic about the future, because he believed that many Mozambicans now agree that poverty can be beaten, and there was hard evidence that poverty is losing ground, and giving way to economic development.
"There have been many advances, even in districts which, two or three years ago, were in total backwardness", Guebuza said in a meeting in Mabote with the Inhambane provincial government.
Guebuza traveled on to Mabote from the central province of Sofala, where he had heard calls for the sacking of the administrator of Muanza district, for alleged misuse of the Local Initiative Investment Fund (FIIL). This is the fund, of at least seven million meticais (280,000 US dollars) a year, attributed from the state budget to each of the 128 districts, for projects intended to increase food production and create jobs.
But on Sunday, speakers at a rally in Muanza accused the district administrator, Remo Mucatare, of granting money from this fund to "a group of friends".
"Mr President, the population of Muanza doesn't need this administrator here. He doesn't coordinate his activities with the population", said one resident, Alberto Bengala.
Bengala said he had applied, without success, for money from the seven million meticais, which "only goes to the friends of the administrator and to the members of the District Consultative Council and their relatives".
Five other people spoke up in support of Bengala's claims, although they said hey feared their outspokenness might bring reprisals from the district administration.
Guebuza thanked them for raising their concerns, and promised that there would be no reprisals. "In Mozambique, we should not be afraid of reprisals - we should only be afraid of committing crimes", he said. District Consultative Councils, he added, had been created to serve the people without any discrimination, and it was therefore fundamental to choose as their members people who were concerned with the welfare of their entire community.
Both Guebuza and the provincial governor, Alberto Vaquina, said the accusations against Mucatare would be investigated. Mucatare himself told reporters there was no truth in the allegations. He said he did not decide who would benefit from the seven million meticais - that was up to the Consultative Council.
Members of the Council claimed that those who protested to Guebuza "are a group of people whose projects were not accepted at this stage. We shall see if the next administrator who comes here does not face the same problems".
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