Mozambique: PEER REVIEW ATTACKS DEVELOPMENT MODEL FOR WIDENING RICH-POOR GAP

News reports & clippings no. 150 from Joseph Hanlon

Mozambique’s development model is creating a wide moat separating the rich from the poor and this can generate serious conflicts, warns the African Peer Review Mechanism (MARP) Forum in its self-evaluation report, published in February.
This is a very strong statement from a very establishment body.
The report makes several statements which go against current government policy:
+ The principle beneficiaries of growth have been a tiny group and “the most credible indicators show an increase in absolute terms in the number of people below the minimum subsistence line”, thus rejecting government and donor claims of dramatic reductions in poverty.
+ It calls for the creation of a development bank.
+ Recognising the Mozambique has electricity from the Cahora Bassa dam, it calls for electricity prices to be reduced for the productive sector.
+ Because of the bias to the social sector, only 3.5% of the state budget is allocated to agriculture and rural development. This should be increased to the 10% recommended by various African summits and Nepad.

The report is surprising because of the way this group of very respected people criticises development policy. “Mozambique’s present development model, based on free individual initiative and the principles of a economic liberalism”, is seen as creating unemployment and leaving many family with not even enough to survive, especially in urban areas. This is polarising society, and creating “serious risks” of conflict. In a survey, half of respondents say unemployment as the most
serious threat to peace, stability and security. The report repeatedly uses the word “fosso”, meaning a constructed moat or ditch, to describe the widening gap between rich and poor. The report also warns that “corruption is growing because of impunity”.