MOZAMBIQUE: THE INERTIA OF A GOVERNMENT BASED ON PARTIES TIED TO THEIR SELF-SUPPORT

Paulo Vilanculo"

This article reflects on the first days of a new government in Mozambique, analyzing the stance of the National Assembly, which has failed to present a concrete agenda for improving social life. Although the text adopts an analytical and critical tone, appropriate for political and social debates, the critical investigation highlights the government's inertia based on political parties whose actions are geared towards self-sustainability and not towards the real interests of the population, especially when one observes the proposals of the Mozambican National Assembly for questions to the government in the first days that denote the absence of an agenda for improving social life.

Mozambique has been experiencing a political cycle for decades marked by the concentration of power in political parties that, for the most part, prioritize their institutional survival over social well-being. The new Mozambican government faces significant challenges of political and institutional inertia in a political scenario of a degrading Assembly, characterized by a legacy of legislative participation that operates in a way that privileges its internal interests.

With the start of another government cycle, worrying signs of inaction on the part of the Executive and Parliament can be observed. During the first days of the new government’s term, no urgent issues were raised regarding food security, access to drinking water or the rehabilitation of essential social infrastructure. The lack of concrete initiatives on the part of the government to untangle bureaucracy and encourage citizen participation shows how inertia will be reflected in public management. The lack of government action and legislative ineffectiveness directly impact the socioeconomic development of Mozambique.

The National Assembly has been criticized over the years for becoming a space for political self-preservation. According to Castel-Branco (2014), "the Mozambican political structure is shaped by a symbolic relationship between the dominant party and public institutions", which makes profound reforms difficult. The new National Assembly is seen by the people as a "parliamentary union" for the interests of perpetuating the "status quo" that reinforces governmental inertia, prioritizing its own maintenance and economic sustainability, to the detriment of an agenda of concrete and effective reforms.

The silence of the Assembly and the emptying of social debate is aOne of the most telling signs of government inertia is the weak involvement of the National Assembly in issues that really matter to society. Instead of acting as a mechanism for promoting public policies, the newly created National Assembly of Mozambique may focus on its own support, reinforcing a system that promotes stagnation. Instead, debates have focused on internal disputes, legislative formalities and protocol discussions.

Its inertia as a governance policy isunderstood here as the absence of transformative action, is evident from the first statements and sessions of the new legislature, in which there is no clear agenda or stance aimed at social reforms, which reinforces the perception that maintaining the status quo is more valuable to the parties than any structural transformation. As Chichava (2013) states, the new "Assembly will not be able to function as an effective channel of popular representation, but rather as a mechanism for consolidating power."

Supporting the thesis of self-sustaining political partiesThe analysis is based on parliamentary behavior and shows that many parties in Mozambique, once elected, prioritize internal agendas, such as access to public office, control of state resources and strategies for maintaining power. This behavior is consistent with what Bobbio (1986) called "partycracy", where parties replace active citizenship with a logic of self-sufficient and closed representation.

The absence of a social agenda reflects what Habermas (1997) called the "colonization of the lifeworld," when political systems invade the public space and neutralize the emancipatory potential of civil society. The absence of concrete proposals to address the country's structural problems, such as poverty, unemployment, and precarious access to health and education, raises fundamental questions about the parties' real commitments to citizens. The absence of a concrete agenda on the part of the Assembly compromises the role of the State as a guarantor of social rights.

According to Castel (1998), "the greatest risk of fragile democracies is the closure of elites in themselves, perpetuating structures of domination without commitment to the common good." This rationale is highlighted in the Mozambican case, where the parties with the largest parliamentary presence do not present themselves as instruments of transformation, but as mechanisms for the reproduction of power. This logic causes structural reforms, such as income redistribution policies or investments in basic health care, to be neglected.

The start of the new government and the Assembly in Mozambique reveal a continuation of political practices focused on maintaining party privileges, rather than an effective commitment to social transformation. Essential sectors such as health, education and infrastructure suffer from the slowness of political decisions and the prioritization of internal interests. It is essential to reactivate critical citizenship and to develop more effective mechanisms for public accountability to reverse this situation.

2025/12/3