Manica Progressing in Fight Against Poverty

16 June 2011

Nhacolo — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza declared on Wednesday that progress has been made in the central province of Manica on various fronts in the struggle against poverty, notably in agriculture and science and technology.

He was speaking at a press conference in Nhacolo, capital of Tambara district, his final stop in a four day tour of Manica as part of his “open and inclusive presidency”.

Guebuza said that, in the districts he had visited, there was a noteworthy quantitative and qualitative growth in agricultural production, as shown in the fairs held by farmers and traders.

In these fairs, producers, in partnership with various associations, exhibit not only crops, but also goods made of local material that have domestic and semi-industrial uses and which can, in some cases, substitute imported goods.

Earlier in the day, Guebuza addressed a rally in the Tambara administrative post of Nhacafula, where residents asked him for a tarred road to link Nhacafula to Nhacolo, and for a bridge over the Mwire river which, in the rainy season, completely blocks their access to the district capital.

They also wanted the government to build a second cycle secondary (pre-university) school in the district, and a boarding centre so that students from outlying localities can attend the existing first cycle secondary school (providing 8th to 10th grades), without spending their meagre funds on renting somewhere to live.

The women at the rally asked for more incentives for girls’ education, in order to end premature marriages.

Guebuza, as usual in such rallies, did not promise immediate solutions to any of the problems raised, since the main purpose of his visits into the districts is to interact with the people on the best ways to step up the struggle against poverty.

At his press conference he pointed out that all 128 districts in the country have at least one secondary school – through not all these schools teach the pre-university cycle (11th and 12th grades). “We’re on the right path in this area”, he stressed.

But the major problem in education, in Guebuza’s view, concerned technical and professional training. He said that, if at least one technical and professional school could be established in each district, then the country would be able to make an impressive leap in its development over the next decade.

Guebuza has now left Manica to continue his “open presidency” in the western province of Tete.

AllAfrica – All the Time