Manica province has the largest election budget. It is three times larger than the budget for Gaza, Nampula and Cabo Delgado; four times larger than the budget for Maputo and five times larger than that for Inhambane. Nobody is able to explain why.

It is also twice as large as the budget for the National Elections Commission (CNE) at central level (47.5 million meticais). A source in the CNE suspects that the provincial government may have given additional weight to the argument that Manica is the only province in the country where the electoral administration bodies at all levels operate without interruption every year. In the other provinces, these bodies only operate during election periods. This is just one possible explanation, since even the members of the CNE do not understand the reasons.

The Manica budget is far larger than that of more populous provinces, namely Nampula (6.3 million inhabitants), Zambézia (5.7 million), Tete (2.9 million), Cabo Delgado (2.5 million), Sofala (2.5 million), Maputo Province (2.3 million), and of provinces that cover a larger area of Mozambique: Niassa, Zambézia, Tete, Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Gaza, Inhambane, Sofala. Manica is the ninth largest and seventh most populous province in Mozambique.

Threat of strike in Manica?

A letter from the Manica Provincial Elections Commission warns that the lack of decision over wages, plus the 87 per cent cut in the allowance paid to staff, is creating an "unadvisable" environment. The letter warns that this environment will not be positive "for the electoral challenges ahead".

The letter, signed by the chairperson of the Provincial Elections Commission, Januário Rocheque, asks the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission, Bishop Carlos Matsinhe, to work with the bodies that deal with wage reform (the Single Wage Table) to find a solution or possible explanation for what has happened (letter appended).