Maputo, 31 Mar (AIM) – The Ministry of Justice of Mozambique launched a campaign for Free Birth Registration with the aim of promoting citizens’ access to civil identification.

The project, which is expected to cover around 7 million people, will register 25 thousand citizens per day.

The campaign, scheduled to run from March 23rd to December 31st, will be carried out by up to 500 mobile brigades, which will travel to communities to register births and issue identification documents.

According to the Minister of Justice, Mateus Saize, cited in a statement addressed to the civil registry offices, the measure aims to respond to the “critical deficit in birth registration and the high number of citizens without legal identification in the country”.

“The brigades will operate in districts, administrative posts and localities, aiming to reach citizens who, for various reasons, do not have access to formal services. The initiative aims to invert the traditional model, taking services directly to the population”, the note reads.

The technical teams include employees from the Ministry of Justice, responsible for civil registration and issuing birth certificates, and agents from the Ministry of the Interior, who will simultaneously issue Identity Cards.

All services provided within the scope of this campaign will be free. “The civil registry offices were instructed to ensure the free registration of all requests submitted during the period in which the measure was in force”, the document reads.

The operation costs will be financed by the EDGE Mozambique Project, which is a Digital Governance initiative financed by the World Bank, focused on digital identification, public services and the digital economy.

This could be a step towards ending the absurd situation in which identity cards are, in theory, mandatory, but a large number of citizens do not have them.
(AIM)
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Six arrested for theft of medicines
Maputo, 31 Mar (AIM) – Mozambican health authorities reported the arrest of six health professionals for alleged involvement in the theft of medicines and medical-surgical material in the districts of Muembe and Mandimba, in the northern province of Niassa.

Last January, authorities reported the theft of antimalarial medicines worth 42 million meticais (around 657 thousand dollars, at current exchange rates) from the central medical warehouses of the National Health Service, in the province of Maputo.

According to Cássimo Abudo, administrator of the Muembe district, antimalarial medicines are the most stolen medicine in the district. He explained that the detainees in question sold the stolen medicines to private pharmacies.

“They were also involved in stealing blood collection bags, which forced the introduction of reinforced security measures in health units in the district,” he said.

The Minister of Health, Ussene Isse, declared “zero tolerance” to the theft of medicines. In January, a pharmacist was sentenced to 10 months in prison for stealing medicines in the central province of Sofala.

Meanwhile, the Association of United Health Professionals (APSUSM) threatened to intensify its strike, which began on January 16. The president of APSUSM, Anselmo Muchave, quoted in Tuesday’s edition of the independent daily “O Pais”, stated that the government is not complying with the recommendations emerging from negotiations with the strikers, and that the situation of the National Health Service is “catastrophic”.

Muchave alleged that a “silent genocide” is taking place in health facilities. Since the start of the strike, 1,872 deaths have been recorded, he said, caused by a lack of medicines and medical supplies and lack of care in health units.

Muchave has made such claims frequently, but no one else has seen large numbers of deaths in health facilities.

APSUSM demands the payment of the end-of-year bonus (known as the 13th month because it is equivalent to the payment of an extra month of the base salary) and better working conditions in hospitals.

“APSUSM will not back down,” declared Muchave. “The fight for life, dignity and health rights does not allow us to allow the government to neglect the National Health Service and put the lives of Mozambicans at risk.”

Muchave claims that APSUSM represents 65,000 health workers, but there is no sign that such a large number of people have ever supported APSUSM’s strike calls.

He warned that if the government does not reach an agreement with APSUSM, the next phase of the strike will completely paralyze health units.
(AIM)
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Maputo, 31 Mar (AIM) – The president of the Mozambique Chamber of Commerce (CCM), Lucas Chachine, believes that strengthening the country’s business class is crucial to increasing productivity and exports.

According to Chachine, speaking on Monday in Maputo, after the inauguration of the new CCM governing bodies, business expansion is urgent “and we need to look for solutions to the problems of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)”.

The new bodies will operate in the sectors of taxation, finance, risk, compliance and control, internal audits, policies and procedures, macroeconomic analysis, support for associations and business services.

Chachine said that, in the near future, actions are planned to promote the growth of these sectors, with a view to improving the performance of each department.

“Our motto is to see Mozambican companies produce more, improve the quality of their products and export. This will be possible through reinforced collaboration with the government and closer ties with SMEs,” he stated.

He also highlighted the need to promote the economic inclusion of young and female entrepreneurs through mentoring programs and access to alternative sources of financing.

He also mentioned that the CCM intends to reinforce its role in mediating commercial disputes through the Business Ombudsman, a service already existing at the institution.

He added that technological advances require greater resilience from companies, taking into account the government’s commitment to the digitalization of the economy.

“It is important that the digitalization secretariat, in coordination with others, invests in the use of digital platforms to boost business development,” he stated.
(AIM)
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Government launches financing line for rural projects

Maputo, 31 Mar (AIM) – The Ministry of Planning and Development of Mozambique and Moza Banco, one of the country’s commercial banks, signed an agreement on Monday that aims to finance rural development projects.

The project, which is part of the Rural Business Financing Line (LFER), is budgeted at 11 million dollars.

According to the Minister of Planning and Development, Salim Vala, the financing line aims to boost the rural economy and promote employment opportunities.

“These resources are to provide financial support to rural companies and enterprises. We know that in Mozambique 65 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and that is where the great potential for the economic development of our country lies. But this initiative is also aimed at Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)”, he said.

He stated that “SMEs today represent more than 95 percent of the Mozambican economic panorama”.

According to the minister, the beneficiaries of this line of credit have the mission of ensuring its continuity through the repayment of their loans.

“We know that access to financing is one of the biggest constraints to the growth of agricultural supply chains and rural entrepreneurs. It is precisely to respond to this challenge that LFER was created”, he said.

“We want to ensure that credit arrives in a structured, transparent and sustainable way, allowing productive projects to flourish and the positive impact to spread throughout the community,” he added.

Valá warned that without reimbursement “it will not be possible to expand the fund to other beneficiaries”.

For his part, Manuel Soares, representative of the Executive Committee of Moza Banco, said that his institution will assume responsibility for managing the credit line, as an intermediary between the resources made available and the final beneficiaries.

He declared that every penny invested will be aligned with rigorous technical criteria and the highest standards of integrity and transparency.
(AIM)
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Maputo, 30 Mar (AIM) – The Mozambican government created the Digital Transformation and Innovation Agency (ATDI) “to face the challenges of technological fragmentation in public administration and the need to accelerate the integrated modernization of public services”, declared Prime Minister Benvinda Levi on Monday.

Speaking in Maputo, at the ceremony in which the president of the new agency, Adilson Gomes, took office, Levi said that it is ATDI’s task to “boost innovation and technological modernization and thus continually improve the provision of State services to citizens”.

ATDI’s responsibilities, he continued, include “the harmonization and interoperability of the State’s digital platforms, the management and integration of data centers, and the rationalization of the acquisition of digital service provision systems”.

“Digital transformation”, declared the Prime Minister, “is one of the structuring pillars to promote the continuous modernization of the State in the context of improving services throughout the country”.

“The commitment to digital transformation”, he continued, “also seeks to ensure that no Mozambican is left behind in taking advantage of the benefits of new Information and Communication Technologies, regardless of where they live”.

The government, Levi said, wants digital systems “to be increasingly comprehensive, resilient and interoperable, and to ensure that Mozambique consolidates itself as a digital, innovative and inclusive nation”.

She stressed that technology “only has real value when it facilitates and improves people’s lives – that is, when it reduces distances, democratizes opportunities and transforms rights into tangible opportunities”.

She believes that Gomes can rise to this challenge, as he has more than 20 years of experience in information technologies, telecommunications and digital transformation.
(AIM)
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