Dhlakama promises “Autonomy” for April or May

via Dhlakama promises “Autonomy” for April or May – The Zimbabwean 6 March 2015

Afonso Dhlakama, leader of Mozambique’s largest opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, announced on Wednesday that his party will begin to govern “autonomous regions” in the northern and central provinces in April or May.

Speaking at a rally in the town of Cuamba, in the northern province of Niassa, reported by the independent television station, STV, Dhlakama made it clear that he just expected the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, to rubber stamp a Renamo bill to establish “autonomous provinces”.

“In the Assembly we shall not ask Frelimo for approval of the bill on autonomous regions”, he said. “We shall just make it official and turn it into a law. Then we shall begin to govern”.

Unfortunately for Dhlakama, for anything to become law in the Assembly, it requires the approval of Frelimo, which is the majority party. The current composition of the Assembly is 144 deputies from Frelimo, 89 from Renamo and 17 from the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM).

If Frelimo does not accept the Renamo bill, then it cannot become law. The content of the Renamo bill is still unknown since it has not yet been submitted to the Assembly.

Dhlakama wants “autonomy” for the central provinces of Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambezia, and for Nampula and Niassa in the north. He told the Cuamba rally that the provincial governors appointed by President Filipe Nyusi would remain in place, but executive power would lie with the Provincial Council (a body which does not yet exist) led by the President of the Council.

In an interview published last month by the independent weekly “Savana”, Dhlakama suggested that the Provincial Councils would somehow emerge from the Provincial Assemblies which were elected last October. But Renamo only has a clear majority in the Sofala, Zambezia and Tete assemblies.

Frelimo enjoys a comfortable majority in the Niassa assembly, while in Nampula and Manica it is virtually tied with Renamo (in Nampula Frelimo and Renamo each have 46 seats, and the MDM has one; in Manica. Frelimo has 40 seats to 39 for Renamo and one for the MDM).

The forecast that “autonomous provinces” can be up and running by April or May assumes that there will be no challenge to the Renamo bill for violating the Constitution. Opinions differ as to whether the Constitution would need to be amended, and so it is quite likely that the matter will be referred to the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional law.