– Recently, projects to exploit resources have been blocked by protesters demanding better conditions
By Ricardo Dias
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – Mozambican President Daniel Chapo said on Monday that he wants natural resources to serve the country’s development, so that the public no longer complains of a shortage of schools or hospitals, while the country is rich in minerals.
Daniel Chapo was speaking at the ceremony where he swore into office Joao Osvaldo Machatine, a former Minister of Public Works who is now the Executive Coordinator of the newly created Office of Reforms and Strategic Projects.
“It is time for us to take bold decisions to ensure that these resources serve, in the first place, the goals of the economic and social development of Mozambique. We should not continue to have communities in areas where mega-projects have been set up who are always demanding good quality schools and health units or other living conditions. My passage through Tete, Nacala, Palma and Inhambane showed me this need”, said the President in his speech.
Chapo’s speech comes at a time when, as part of the post-election protests, several projects to exploit the country’s resources have been interrupted, seriously affecting the economy, with the people living nearby demanding the construction of schools, hospitals, bridges and other infrastructures.
As a kind of answer, Chapo has set up the new office to advise on the analysis of contracts and concessions, and to assess the progress of reforms and projects that have a major national impact.
“We should not accept the Mozambican state receiving lower revenue for the resources of which it is the sovereign owner. It is up to our generation to break the cycle of imbalances which perpetuate dependence on foreign aid”, he said.
The new office is a strategic project, coordinated by Joao Machatine, with the historic mission, according to Chapo, of transforming Mozambique into a competitive country, a privileged destination for national and foreign investment, and an economically, socially and politically prosperous society.
“Put very simply, with this unit we are intending to drive the reforms I announced on the day I took office”, continued Chapo. “This means ensuring that policies and strategies lead to results that are more advantageous to the Mozambican state, and consequently to the public, to society and to the local communities”.
Chapo wanted the capacity of Mozambican human resources built up so that they are fully prepared to control the exploitation of natural resources, and to use them in industrialisation, which he regarded as indispensable for the accelerated development of the country.
Machatine said he can face the challenges imposed by the national conjuncture and promised to respond to protests with reforms.
“The world today is not what it was in the past”, he said, “and so we must introduce reforms in the sense of adjusting to these realities, and to these social pressures, so that the public can live decently”.
To ensure the transparency of the new office, a Coordinating Council has been set up, consisting of members of the Government, civil society and the private sector, chaired by the President of the Republic. (RD)
