Nyusi reshuffles his State Secretaries
Nyusi reshuffles his State Secretaries
Five out of eleven State Secretaries were replaced by the President last night
Good afternoon. President Nyusi last night dismissed and appointed a number of provincial State Secretaries, the biggest such reshuffle since the position was created in 2015, to sit alongside elected Provincial Governors.
The State Secretaries and Provincial Governors share the responsibilities that used to fall only to Provincial Governors, when they were directly appointed by the President, rather than being elected. The position of State Secretary was introduced as a way essentially, of avoiding too much power being handed over to a Governor who might — perish the thought — not be from Frelimo.
In the event, Frelimo swept the board anyway, but conflicts have nevertheless emerged between Governors and State Secretaries who each see themself as the top dog in the province. (The prospect of yet more such duplication and antagonism is what is behind moves now to go back on a commitment to introduce elected district administrators.)
That is the background to the replacement yesterday of five out of the 11 provincial State Secretaries. Although each case has its own peculiarity, it is notable that the State Secretaries who have been dismissed are all big personalities, who have particularly conflicted with the Provincial Governors. Nyusi can’t — or at least not easily — get rid of Provincial Governors, but he can remove problematic State Secretaries, and that, it seems, is what he has done.
The flip side is that those appointed are, on the whole, not particularly notable individuals — so far at least. An exception is Jaime Bessa Neto, the former defence minister, though he did not distinguish himself particularly in that role. Nevertheless, he remains one to watch as Frelimo readies itself for the next round of elections.
The other notable appointment yesterday was Ilesh Jani as deputy health minister. He has done a sterling job leading the response to the covid pandemic at the National Health Institute; making him a politician may not be the best use of the man, but on the other hand it is just reward for how he has served his country over recent years. On the whole, Nyusi’s recent appointments have served to shift the government in a more technocratic and less political direction — a welcome trend which will likely come to an abrupt end when the next President takes over.
Agenda:
25-26 January: President Nyusi to visit Senegal, to meet President Macky Sall and attend the Dakar Summit on Agriculture and Agribusiness
From the Zitamar Live Blog:
Join the discussion on Telegram or view on our website
Full details of the State Secretaries reshuffle
Today’s headlines:
Nothing to show for three years of Nyusi — or four years of Momade
New salary scale reduces wages by more than MZN10,000
Investigators search Esmael Nangy's property
Authorities arrest 10 illegal foreigners in Nampula
Price of cooking gas down 5%
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Zitamar News to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.