Maputo — Political parties that use state property for their election campaigns should be prosecuted, urged Mozambique's former Attorney-General, Joaquim Madeira, on Wednesday.
The country's electoral legislation clearly states that state assets (including buildings and vehicles) and state personnel must not be used in political campaigns.
Yet whenever elections are held, this provision is disregarded, particularly by the ruling Frelimo Party - though in the municipalities where they hold power, opposition parties also break the law, Renamo in Quelimane and the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) in Beira.
State-owned cars used in Frelimo campaigns have been photographed and filmed in election after election, but no Frelimo campaign manager has ever been taken to court over this.
Even worse is the abuse of state employees, particularly teachers, who have been forced to take part in the Frelimo campaign. Election observers from the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), have noted that the drafting of teachers into the election campaign means that in parts of the country children have been deprived of their classes. There have even been reports that teachers who refuse to join the campaign have been threatened with reprisals.
Madeira, cited by the independent television station STV, urged the Public Prosecutor's Office, to summon those parties that use state assets to explain themselves.
Where it can be proved that election crimes have been committed, prosecutors should take action, he said.
"One of the tasks of the Public Prosecutor's Office is to summons institutions when they are involved in situations that constitute crimes. Indeed, it has the obligation to issue a summons'.
"If an act is committed, no matter by whom, and it constitutes a crime, then the Public Prosecutor's Office has the duty to act', Madeira declared - although he warned that such intervention should only happen in proven situations of election crimes.
The latest evidence is an amateur video which shows a vehicle recently acquired for the Education Sector Support Fund being used for the Frelimo campaign.
