Maputo — The governor of the western Mozambican province of Tete, Alberto Vaquina, on Thursday warned workers of the Provincial Secretariat that fictitious visits to the districts, for the sole purpose of illicitly pocketing travel allowances, are theft from the state and must be denounced and severely punished.

Speaking during a lengthy visit to the Secretariat, he said that there are some civil servants who fabricate unnecessary visits to the districts just to receive the allowances, and this behaviour prejudices the normal functioning of state institutions.

"It is important that we be very serious in our day-to-day activities. Someone who did not travel should not have a travel permit. Only those who really do travel have the right to this document to justify to the state the money received", said Vaquina. "Someone who did not travel must not pass on a travel permit to a colleague or friend to have it stamped in the district in order to receive money without having traveled. People who act like this are reducing the state's capacity to pay for expenses on future visits".

He stressed that work visits to the districts must be planned and the number of people traveling must take into account the nature of the work to be done. People who have nothing to do in that district should not be traveling there.