Mozambique: 300 members of the opposition MDM party have defected in Nampula Province

At least 300 members of the opposition MDM party have defected in Nampula Province because of an alleged lack of transparency in selecting candidates for MP.

Senior MDM member Jose Manuel de Sousa has, however, dismissed the move, saying that the defectors were driven by self-promotion rather than political motives. He also accused the ruling Frelimo party of orchestrating the move to undermine the MDM’s ambitions in the general elections.

The most senior defector is Juma Molide, who had been the co-ordinator of the MDM election office and played a pivotal role in the MDM's victory in Nampula Province’s mayoral elections last year. He told Mozambique Politics & Security that he was disappointed to find that he was twenty-third on the list of MDM candidates for Nampula Province which, because of its large population, is the electoral swing province with a total of 49 parliamentary seats being contested.

For Molide to find his way in to parliament, the MDM opposition party would have to win about 50% of the Nampula seats. When asked to react to Molide's grievance, de Sousa said that by insisting on a higher place on the list, Molide was implicitly anticipating that the MDM could not win the general elections.

For more news and expert analysis about Mozambique, please see Mozambique Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Mozambique expanding electricity supply to meet the needs of a growing economy

Mozambique´s Energy Minister Salvador Namburete says that his government is implementing plans to expand electricity supply to meet the needs of a growing economy. According to the state-run Radio Mozambique, the minister made the announcement at his Ministry’s Coordinating Council in the Niassa Province’s northern provincial capital of Lichinga.

Namburete stated that demand for electricity in Mozambique grew at an annual rate of 13% between 2011 and 2013 compared to 10% per annum in the previous decade. Demand is particularly high in the northern provinces of Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa, with growth rates of 20% annually, almost double the national average.

While the government’s electrification programme has extended the national grid to 121 of the country’s 128 districts, Mozambicans will have to wait until the end of 2014 for the remaining seven districts to be connected. Until then, however, patience will remain high as significant steps to redress the electricity supply failures have been made in the last decade.

Mozambique is a major regional producer of hydro-electric power, mainly from the 2,075 MW capacity Cahora Bassa dam but, in 2004, only 7% of the country’s population had access to electricity. Over the last decade, however, the government’s electrification programme has raised that figure to just over 40% in 2014.

For more news and expert analysis about Mozambique, please see Mozambique Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates