Guebuza Begins ‘Open Presidency’ in Maputo

4 April 2011

Maputo — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Sunday began his annual tour of the country (known as the “open and inclusive presidency”) with a visit to the capital city.

On his first day of work Guebuza attended an extraordinary meeting of the Maputo City government, at which the city’s governor, Lucilia Hama, presented a report on the economic and socio-political situation of the capital.

She said that in 2010, in the agricultural zones of the city, farmers produced 68,700 tonnes of crops, which was 102 per cent of the target, and an increase of 16.8 per cent on the figure for 2009.

This year, in January and February, 5,600 tonnes of crops were produced (8.3 per cent of the annual plan).

As for revenue, in 2010 the city authorities collected 187.8 million meticais (6.1 million US dollars at current exchange rates). This was a 46.2 per cent increase on the previous year, but only 90.5 per cent of the target figure.

The Governor claimed major successes in the fight against malaria. She said that the number of notified cases of malaria in Maputo in 2010 had fallen by 35 per cent, when compared with 2009, and the number of malaria deaths had been halved.

Hama told Guebuza that the main constraints facing the city are unemployment, particularly among young people, the shortage of passenger transport, and the lack of public infrastructures where government services can operate.

Guebuza said it was an advantage that the main challenges had been identified, and the most important thing now “is to understand what strategies should be implemented to deal with them”.

In urban and rural areas alike, he said, the key challenge was poverty. Since 2006 all rural districts have benefited from a development fund (still known as “the seven million”, since it started as seven million meticais per district per year, provided out of the central state budget).

As from this year the fund is being extended to urban districts, “and so there is the challenge of understanding how the seven million meticais will be used in the cities”, said Guebuza.

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