New government named

Two days after his inauguration, Mozambique’s new President, Filipe Nyusi, has appointed Carlos Agostinho do Rosario as his Prime Minister. Rosario has been Mozambican ambassador to India for many years, and was also accredited to Indonesia, Thailand and several other Asian countries. He was Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries under President Joaquim Chissano in the late 1990s, and has also held the post of governor of the central province of Zambezia.
There has been a stress on experience and competence, but also a careful balance of interest groups in appointing the new government. Nyusi has merged several ministries, and reduced the number of ministers and deputy ministers, so that the ministries of Finance and of Planning and Development are merged into the Ministry of Economy and Finance, while Mineral Resources and Energy are also merged. These will be the two most powerful ministries. The key appointment is of Pedro Couto as Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. Until now deputy finance minister, he has a high reputation for integrity and independent thinking. The respected former governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Adriano Maleiane, becomes Minister Economy and Finance.
Two ministries criticised for corruption and poor performance, Environment and Tourism, have both been merged into other ministries and their ministers not re-appointed. Carlos Mesquita, formerly head of Cornelder de Mocambique, becomes Minister of Transport and Communications. Businessman Celso Correia, founder of the Insitec group and linked to Guebuza, becomes Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development.
Two key ministers retain their posts: Oldemiro Baloi as Foreign Minister and Jose Pacheco as head of an expanded Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The new government has a stress on technical expertise and experience. Luis Jorge Ferrao, who won praise as Rector (Vice-Chancellor) of Lurio University for building a successful state university in the north in just eight years, is named Minister of Education and Human Development. The new Minister of a merged Ministry of Culture and Tourism is Beira painter Silva Dunduru.
Technicians are appointed in several places: Jorge Penicela Nhambiu, an associate professor of engineering and chair of the National Science and Technology Park becomes Minister of an enlarged Ministry of Science, Technology, Higher, Technical and Professional Education. The new Minister of Trade and Industry is Ernesto Tonela, who was financial director of Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa. Carlos Bonete Martinho, an engineer who was in charge of the rehabilitation of the dam providing water to Nacala, becomes Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources.
The Ministry of the Public Service is merged with the Ministry of State Administration, and the previous Minister of State Administration, Carmelita Namashalua retains the post. The respected former Minster for the Public Service, Vitoria Diogo, becomes Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security. Deputy Minister of Health Dr Nazira Abdula is promoted to Minister of Health.
The new government has 5 women ministers and 8 women deputy ministers. (AIM/Hanlon)