Why Mozambique fails

The Swedish central bank last week awarded the Nobel prize in economics to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson, for their work in highlighting the role that a society’s institutions play in determining a country’s economic development — most famously in their book Why Nations Fail.

According to the Swedish Academy’s justification of the award — which has, it should be noted, generated much controversy among social scientists over the last week — Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson “uncovered a clear chain of causality”, showing that “institutions that were created to exploit the masses are bad for long-run growth, while ones that establish fundamental economic freedoms and the rule of law are good for it.”

Mozambique this week is a showcase for institutions that exploit the masses rather than upholding fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. Elvino Dias, one of the two men who most threatened Frelimo’s grip on power, was brutally assassinated on Friday night — and indications point to it having been carried out by the police. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time; it was the police who murdered Anastacio Matavele five years ago, the election observer who posed a threat to Frelimo’s ability to manipulate the vote in Gaza province. And even if the police are not guilty of this latest crime, their apparent willingness to help cover up the real motive and perpetrators does not inspire confidence.

Nor does the behaviour of Mozambique’s electoral administration bodies. The European Union’s observation mission said today it had seen “unjustified alteration of election results at polling station and district level”, adding to reports from Mozambican civil society organisations of the same phenomenon.

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