Mozambique: Chapo Challenges Local Heads to Strengthen Ties With Communities

Maputo — Mozambican President Daniel Chapo has challenged the country's heads of administrative localities to strengthen their ties with communities and find concrete solutions to the population's concerns.

According to the President, who was speaking on Wednesday, in Maputo, at the opening of the First National Meeting of Locality Heads, the heads of administrative localities must ensure transparent, ethical, and citizen-centered governance, despite the difficulties faced in their respective jurisdictions.

"Our goal is to ensure a people-centered governance chain, where every official, at their respective level, carries out their duties with clarity, commitment, and responsibility, contributing to the building of a better country where the Mozambican people find answers to their concerns", he said.

The President explained that under the Law on Local State Bodies (LOLE), the heads of administrative localities have the mission of representing the central State authority within their respective territory, ensuring a permanent link between the State and the citizens.

A good locality chief, he said, is distinguished by the ability to maintain constant contact with the population, promote public policies, and ensure that social and economic programs yield concrete results in improving the communities' living conditions.

"We are holding this national meeting to jointly evaluate how the mandate to listen to, serve, and respond to the people's concerns has been implemented, despite all adversities. This gathering concludes the training cycle for officials on the front lines of governance, spanning from the central level down to the grassroots", he said.

For his part, the Minister of State Administration, Inocêncio Impissa, said that direct contact between the head of the state and the locality chiefs would inject new momentum into their work with communities. "This meeting is taking place for the first time in Mozambique's history and it demonstrates the value the State places on the locality as the fundamental unit of its administrative structure", he said.

Read the original article on AIM.