Por MOZTIMES
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – Mozambican President Daniel Chapo appointed the 20th and final minister of his government this Thursday, along with six presidential advisers for various sectors.
With this, the government of Mozambique’s 5th President is now fully formed. All considered, it seems to be the more of the same.
All the ministers, presidential advisers, and provincial state secretaries appointed by Daniel Chapo are individuals who have already held various positions in previous governments or served as senior officials in ministries and other key institutions.
None of the appointees have demonstrated outstanding performance in the institutions they previously served. Chapo’s latest ministerial appointment, Eduardo Joaquim Mulémbwè, is a clear example of this sameness.
Mulémbwè was appointed Minister in the Presidency for Parliamentary, Municipal, and Provincial Assembly Affairs. The appointee does have experience or, if you prefer, a long track record as a senior public servant. He has previously served as Speaker of the Mozambican Parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, Attorney General, and Director of the Faculty of Law at Maputo’s Eduardo Mondlane University.
But what tangible achievements can Mulémbwè present to Mozambicans as a result of his political journey? Very few, if any.
In none of these institutions did the new Minister in the Presidency for Parliamentary, Municipal, and Provincial Assembly Affairs leave behind visible accomplishments. What people most remember is a politician who, after 15 consecutive years occupying the second most important position in the State hierarchy, refused to vacate the official residence of the Parliament after stepping down as Speaker. This forced his successor, Verónica Macamo, to live in a private home while performing her duties as Speaker of Parliament.
This Thursday, President Chapo also appointed Beatriz Buchili as Adviser for Legal and Constitutional Affairs. Buchili was the Attorney General of the Republic until December, a position she held for a decade.
During Buchili’s leadership, the Public Prosecutor’s Office did nothing extraordinary in investigating and holding accountable those involved in large-scale crimes. With the major exception of the hidden debts scandal, there were no trials of white-collar criminals, elite corruption, or transnational organised crime, such as kidnapping for ransom, drug trafficking, human trafficking, arms trafficking, terrorist financing, or money laundering.
It’s not that these crimes didn’t occur in Mozambique during that period. In fact, terrorism in northern Mozambique began during Buchili’s term as Attorney General, and no evidence was ever gathered to bring the financial backers of terrorism before the courts. Some people, mainly farmers and fishermen from coastal areas of Cabo Delgado, were tried as terrorists, but… most were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The same applies to money laundering. Over the last 10 years of Buchili’s leadership of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, not a single case of money laundering was tried and convicted in Mozambique, with the exception of those convicted during the hidden debts trial. In the final months of her term, there were arrests of individuals accused of money laundering through the so-called “Stop Money Laundering Operation,” but beyond the spectacle of live televised arrests, little came of these efforts.
On the contrary, in 2022, under Buchili’s leadership of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), Mozambique was placed on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list for money laundering due to chronic deficiencies in preventing money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation of weapons. It has been three years, and Mozambique remains on the grey list, a sign that nothing substantial has changed. What has changed is Buchili’s role—she moved from leading the Public Prosecutor’s Office to serving as the President’s legal adviser.
João Osvaldo Machatine has been appointed Executive Coordinator of the Office for Reforms and Projects in the Presidency. His last role was Minister of Public Works, Housing, and Water Resources. He left behind no remarkable achievements. His time in office is remembered for introducing a toll project on the country’s potholed roads, a project marred by significant corruption allegations involving inflated contracts for goods and services related to toll installations.
In 2022, Filipe Nyusi dismissed Machatine from his position as Minister of Public Works, leaving National Road Number 1 (EN1) —the only road connecting Mozambique from north to south—in a state of disrepair not seen since the end of the civil war over 30 years ago. Therefore, he is yet another figure, like Mulémbwè and Buchili, who has had the opportunity to serve in high-ranking state positions but failed to deliver anything exceptional.
The figures mentioned above were cited as examples because they are the most recent appointments. However, overall, Chapo’s appointments show no significant break from the past in terms of competence.
The failure to appoint individuals who are not loyal members of the ruling party, Frelimo, is another issue. The tone of Daniel Chapo’s inaugural speech, on 15 January, suggested that, in a deeply polarised and fractured society filled with mutual animosities, there could be hope for the formation of a more inclusive government, one that would welcome competent figures who were not necessarily loyal to Frelimo. But that was a mistake. In Chapo’s government, only members of Frelimo are allowed in. More of the same.
In his speech during the swearing-in of the first members of his government, Daniel Chapo told them that “the time of lethargy, excessive bureaucracy, cronyism, nepotism, clientelism, sycophancy, corruption, and other ills must be killed, incinerated, and buried.” However, looking at the composition of his government, it seems very unlikely that things will change, given the people and habits carried over from the past. For the good of the nation, let us hope we are wrong. (MT)
