Mayor of Chimoio Demands Enormous Salary

The major of the central Mozambican city of Chimoio, Alberto Sarande, of the ruling Frelimo Party, is demanding a salary two and a half times greater than that of mayors of comparable municipalities.

According to a report in Saturday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", Sarande held a press conference in Chimoio to complain about his wages.

His problem is that, when he was a deputy in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, in the 1999-2004 legislature, he was paid 34 million meticais (about 1,360 US dollars) a month. But the salary stipulated for mayor of a "category three city", such as Chimoio, is just 13 million meticais a month.

He claimed that he is in possession of a document issued by the secretariat of the Standing Commission of the Assembly, which states that Sarande should maintain his parliamentary wages.

Furthermore, he alleged that the only reason he left parliament was in order to take up the position of Mayor.

Sarande claimed that he was being "persecuted" by the Chimoio Municipal Assembly (which is dominated by his own party, Frelimo). By insisting that he was only entitled to 13 million meticais a month, the Assembly showed it did not understand local authority legislation, he said.

However, the Ministry of State Administration has supported the Municipal Assembly in this dispute - leading the angered Sarande to say that, if his wages are to be cut to 13 million a month, then he would rather work as a volunteer, and accept no payment at all.
He boasted that he had done this before: he had been the unpaid Frelimo Secretary for Mobilisation and Propaganda in Sussundenga district in the 1980s.

But the Municipal Assembly insists that the fact he was once a parliamentary deputy does not give Sarande the right to transfer his parliamentary wages to Chimoio City Council.
The Assembly points out that people like Sarande, who served two terms in parliament, have generous social security provisions, which should not be confused with the new wages they are paid in municipalities or other state bodies.

Sarande had been setting his own salary, and so the Assembly wrote to the Ministry of State Administration seeking clarification. The Ministry replied immediately that the mayor is only entitled to 13 million meticais a month.

"Noticias" says that when Sarande ignored this and went on paying himself 34 million meticais a month, the Municipal Assembly complained again. This time the Ministry ordered Sarande to repay the extra 21 million meticais he has been receiving since 2004. It also threatened to take disciplinary measures against Sarande for disobedience and illegally fixing his own salary.

Source: Allafrica [06-02-13]
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