IT'S TIME FOR THE PEOPLE TO WAKE UP

Afonso Almeida Brandão"

GGoverning a nation is always a collective effort and, while it is true that there is usually someone who is seen as decisive by public opinion, the truth is that the quality of the results is the result of the human, technical and, perhaps, political quality of half a dozen people. This is the current Mozambican dilemma, because the three (mis)governments of the FRELIXO “Chuxa”-list — after Samora Machel, after his tragic death, which occurred in a strange way and is still unclear — the truth is that they never had that half dozen quality people. The government of Joaquim Chissano had some people with technical quality, but with insufficient political level, in addition to having focused only on the mission of solving the problem of National Finances. Perhaps a second term for Joaquim Chissano would have been a missed opportunity for Mozambique, however, for reasons that most attentive citizens know... The (mis)governments of the last three FRELIXO Presidents, in their “roost” for 50 years — especially Filipe Nyusi, who left the country practically in a “thong” during the last 10 years of robberies, cronyism, favoritism towards cronies, drug trafficking and successive diversions into accounts in tax havens — are/were those that were/are even further from the ideal of someone who was a Prime Minister (we are talking about Adriano Maleiane, for example), who was a former Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, if he surrounded himself with that half dozen quality people. In fact, Mediocrity is the most distinctive mark of Filipe Nyusi’s governments, both in the Technical, Human and Political spheres. At least some of the previous Frelimo Prime Ministers, especially during the mandates of Armando Guebuza and Filipe Nyusi, thought that they were potential autocrats and that they personified the principle of certainty that everything was fine (which is false, let's be honest!) — and that they did nothing more than leave the country in their underwear and "shouting at Gregório", as we know...

And all this with the aggravating factor — and negative note — that “those” half-dozen people who surrounded the last three Presidents of the Republic in Mozambique, in the role of Prime Minister, had themselves (poor things!) believed this... This is the situation that is at the root of the current difficulties of the recent Minister of Economy, Basílio Muhate, appointed by Daniel Chapo, current President of the Republic, who VM7 considered that it would be best if you were “a card out of the Frelimo deck” for this new Government that has taken office, as well as Carla Alexandra Louveira who occupies the Ministry of Finance and who also leaves much to be desired. And we are not only talking about these two Ministries, but later on! But regarding the Minister of Economy, since he is a “dreamer”, with a lack of technological culture and a lack of much management experience, we believe that he will not be recommended (nor will he be useful to the current Government in office), since both Ministers do not have the necessary qualifications for the positions to which they were appointed — which in our opinion, in fact, is predictable as a missed opportunity, because general mediocrity infects the governance of this new Government in an irreversible way. Who understands politics? What experience do they have to govern a Ministry? Let's not joke about serious matters...

However, at this point, we would like to point out that in every government there is always someone with quality, and Daniel Chapo's government is no exception, since the issue is that the quality of governance depends largely on the collective. And this fact does not seem to us to be one of the obvious foundations. Samora Machel was not a man with knowledge of potential quality leaders, but he knew how to best manage the placement of the ministers who were sworn in at the time. In other words, Samora Machel fulfilled the principle of half a dozen quality people.

Currently, many commentators on government activity (or perhaps not!) are realizing the consequences of the current Government's lack of Quality, starting to see the obvious: the contradictions in some of the decisions, despite thinking that this is due to a lack of Coordination, when in fact it is the result, from the beginning, of the General Mediocrity of the majority of those in government, although the issue of the problem is transversal and much broader.

For the first time, there is a debate in Mozambique as in other latitudes, as Salomão Moyana rightly said, on the question of whether the backwardness of the people is the fault of the Government or the People.

It is obvious to us that it is usually both, with the note that in the case of Mozambique no People, in their right mind, should have given an absolute majority to FRELIMO in the last elections, since we all know that THESE LAST ELECTIONS WERE FRAUDULENT, WITH FRAUDULENT VOTES, SINCE THIS ALSO DEPENDED ON THE ELECTORAL RULES NOT BEING FULLY DEMOCRATIC and for this very reason the final result was a high ABSTENTION of around 72% of FALSE Votes at the "Exit of the Ballot Boxes", and we do not know what those who did not vote think and why the International Observers who were in Mozambique "cleaned their hands" from the beginning, of this entire Shameful Surrealist Election. In short: Venâncio Mondlane and the People who voted for him were the main victims... Or are we wrong?

But the most curious thing is that we have not heard any of “our” political commentators say that Daniel Chapo is in the wrong place and that the person who should be in Ponta Vermelha is Venâncio Mondlane. Adding factors such as the reality of corruption in our country, for example, which should have been duly warned to the less enlightened or even ignorant Mozambican voters of the reality, it is worth adding that since the beginning, which will now be 50 years old next July, the FRELIMISTA government has been an electoral tactic or a genuine desire to help the most disadvantaged sectors of society. Hence the struggle with an insoluble problem, which is the policies that do not promote Economic Growth. In other words: in the absence of the capacity to promote national and international investment, particularly in industry and in attracting new foreign investors to Mozambique, the truth is that we all know that the governments of the three previous Presidents of the Republic spent (and stole!) what they had and what they did not have, in an attempt to minimize social unrest through ever more TAXES, which in turn limited or nullified to a certain extent the possibility of this same investment. Our commentators and political analysts (we repeat) — who proliferate in the capital Maputo — and throughout the country, with their opinions of poverty, through the main television channels — it would be good if they came to “open the eyes” of the people in an enlightening and convincing way, for the good of all. As journalist Salomão Moyana has tried to contribute on Sundays, in his usual public television space.

In the meantime, we will have another five years of this soap opera ahead of us, with Daniel Chapo as the “Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra”, which has just taken its first steps, leading the Destinies of Mozambique, without much curiosity about its outcome, which has already been announced, and which will lead us to the tail end of all the countries that currently make up the PALOPs, perhaps the CPLP, and some indicators already indicate that we are there. Does anyone have any doubts?

Perhaps now that Daniel Chapo and Venâncio Mundlane are the Hope that everyone is waiting for, through the rapprochement of both, it will bear the positive fruits that Mozambique and the suffering People are waiting for with expectation. However, we leave the question in the air: who is to blame for all this “mess” in which the Country finds itself “agonizing” until today? The governments? The “Metralhas” of FRELIXO who have been on the “perch” for five decades? Or is it all of us, who have allowed it...?!

Whoever knows, please respond and tell us about its justice, because for our part we take into consideration that the Electoral Laws and the Greed of Power have always been GREED that has favored the FRELIMO Party since it has been in charge of the destinies of our Country, through successive swindles and Electoral frauds committed, Election after Election, since 1994.

It's time for the people to wake up!■

2025/12/3