Maputo — The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, on Thursday began an extraordinary sitting, but with a shorter agenda than initially envisaged.

In her opening remarks, the chairperson of the Assembly, Veronica Macamo, announced that the sitting will not debate the amended Penal Code, one of the most important components of the government's anti-corruption package, because the Assembly's working commissions believed that work still needed to be done on it, before it could be brought to the Assembly plenary.

Similarly, the commissions wanted more time to prepare a Freedom of Information Bill. It is odd that the commissions should feel they need more time, since the initial version of this bill was drawn up by the Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) and submitted to the Assembly in 2005, almost eight years ago.

Another item likely to drop off the agenda is the revision of the electoral legislation. The main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, has been demanding major changes in the legislation, threatening that it will not only boycott, but also disrupt the municipal elections scheduled for 20 November unless the changes are made.

The key changes Renamo wants are precisely the ones that were defeated the last time the electoral laws were debated, in December 2012. Renamo wants the electoral bodies to be completely politicised. It wants what it calls “parity” with the ruling Frelimo Party on the National Elections Commission (CNE), but Renamo proposal would have ensured an opposition majority on the CNE.

Renamo also wanted political appointees at all levels of the CNE's executive arm, the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE). This would vastly increase the size of STAE, and would ensure that political policemen were breathing down the necks of the election professionals at every stage.

Some of the latest Renamo document on the electoral law, such as a provision for recounts, is acceptable - but Renamo has not yet submitted any amendments at all, and time is running out, since the extraordinary sitting will close on 15 August.

In its halting dialogue with the government, Renamo has repeatedly refused to submit its own proposed amendments to the Assembly. It wants the document to be submitted jointly by Renamo and the government, in order to tie the hands of the Frelimo parliamentary group. The government has refused to go along with this.

The main item remaining on the agenda is an amended state budget for 2013. Changes in the budget are needed in order to meet needs arising from the floods that hit much of Mozambique, particularly Gaza and Zambezia provinces, in January and February. Money must be allocated to assist the people living in the areas world hit by the floods, and to rebuild damaged infrastructure.

The Assembly will also debate a bill on the Statute of Doctors working in the national health service. Adopting this statute was one of the demands of the Mozambican Medical Association (AMM), the body which represent doctors, and staged two strikes earlier this year.

But the sitting started with two technical bills from the government, amending the laws on the organic structure of the country's administrative tribunals, and altering the composition and organisation of the Higher Council of the Administrative Judicial Magistracy.

Although there is nothing remotely controversial in either bill, the Renamo parliamentary group abstained on the first reading. 176 deputies from Frelimo and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) voted in favour and the 11 Renamo deputies present abstained.

The vast majority of the 51 Renamo deputies were not in the chamber. It is believed that many of them are still at the bush headquarters of their party's leader, Afonso Dhlakama, in Satunjira, in the central province of Sofala.