16 November 2008
Angoche — As campaigning draws to a close, both candidates for mayor of the northern Mozambican town of Angoche claim that they are certain to win in Wednesday's municipal elections.
Angoche is one of only five municipalities where the main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, won in the last local elections, held in 2003, and the Renamo mayor, Alberto Assane, is running for a second term.
His opponent from the ruling Frelimo Party, Americo Adamugi, says he feels he has already won, and that the people of Angoche are tired of Assane because he failed to honour any of the promises he made in 2003.
Such claims are dismissed by Assane, who told AIM, in a very brief conversation, that he was going to win, and had every intention of continuing the work begun in his first term of office.
Adamugi boasts of the large attendance at his campaign events. "Judging by the way the people have supported our election campaign, we think we are going to win very easily", he said. "If I said we'd win 65 per cent of the votes, I would not be exaggerating".
Adamugi says that in the five years he has been mayor Assane did not open a single borehole to improve the town's water supply, and did not build a single school, despite receiving large sums from the central government's Local Authority Compensation fund, as well as from taxes raised locally.
"When these things are not done, then naturally there is no transparency in managing the municipality", said Adamugi. Assane and his group had done nothing to benefit the people of Angoche, he accused, "but they have built houses for themselves in Nampula city and elsewhere".
He pledged that, if Frelimo wins on Wednesday, the new council will adopt "more transparent forms of municipal management". He promised to open wells, build and tar access roads, as well as build new schools and health posts. He would also encourage tourism and artisanal fishing in this coastal town, which was once regarded as the economic capital of Nampula province, but has become badly run down in recent decades.
Adamugi also accuses the third force in Angoche, the Independent Party of Mozambique (PIMO - which is a disguised Islamic party) of working for Renamo. PIMO is running candidates for the municipal assembly (where it won a seat in 2003) but is not standing for mayor.
Although some months ago PIMO leader Yaqub Sibindy declared that PIMO would support Frelimo for all mayoral positions, Adamugi insists that in reality PIMO in Angoche is urging people to give Assane a second term.
Mm/pf (443)
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.
