Good afternoon. President Daniel Chapo was confirmed today as president of Frelimo, but not before the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP) submitted a legal challenge to the Court of the City of Maputo to prevent his appointment, arguing that it is prohibited by the constitution. There is strong legal reasoning to believe that it does - article 148 states that the president may “in no case, perform any private functions.” And yet every president since independence in 1975 has also served as leader of the party.

This apparent infraction of the constitution has not gone unnoticed in the past. Last year, a group of 10 citizens made the same case to the Constitutional Council, which is yet to deliver a verdict. There is even support for separating the presidency from the party leadership within Frelimo. Oscar Monteiro, a former member of the Political Commission, asserted in an article for Savana in October that it is illegal for the president to hold the two positions. Teodato Hunguana, another party grandee who once sat on the Constitutional Council, supports this view.

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CIP argues in its submission to the court that combining partisan and political responsibilities in the head of state is not only unconstitutional but risks subordinating the interests of the country to the will of the party. The Frelimo Political Commission, after all, is where all serious political decisions are made, not the Council of Ministers or even the Presidency.