There is no doubt that 2016 was an adverse year. Both at the national and international levels, from the political-military crisis, to the depreciation of the exchange rate in Mozambique; The difficult management of public debt, economic and political tensions in some African countries, situations in the Ucraine and Syria, impeachment of the Brazilian President Dilma Rosseauf; The corruption scandal that was discovered through 11.5 million documents, called "Panama papers"; the USA elections that elected Donald Trump in an Election Played with a Democrat Hillary Clinton, among others.
What can 2017 bring us ?
2017 is a year that reminds us of the hope that Mozambique will be able to recover from the adversities that characterized the last two years, 2015 and 2016. Political and economic stability is seen on the basis of the most recent actions carried out by the main Political, economic and government Mozambican actors. The President of the Republic Filipe Nyusi demonstrated in a personnel level, a remarkable engagement in sensitive issues of the country, both in the political as well as economic field.
Expectations for 2017 can generate positive social effects in the country, since these are transformed into concrete that benefit the citizens. Another major event for 2017 is undoubtedly the 11th FRELIMO Party Congress to be held in September, which will mark an effective turning point in the Mozambican political cycle.
These are some of my predictions:
- The year of economic recovery: 2017 may be a year of economic and financial recovery, the last two months of 2016 showed a slight metical recovery in the face of the main currencies and signs by the Mozambican government to take concrete steps regarding their cooperation with International partners, particularly the IMF, in resolving public spending, solving debt and pursuing economic and social development projects. There is a greater awareness of the need to increase production and reduce external dependence and still look at AGRICULTURE from a more practical and tangible point of view.
- The year of peace Effective peace: It is evident that the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, as well as Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, will take concrete steps towards effective peace in Mozambique. In the coming days of 2017, there were talks between the two that culminated in the cessation of hostilities that lasted until March 2017 and allowed for more political dialogue between the parties. However, it is crucial for the development and performance of the President of the Republic for the development of innovation.
- The year of the 11th FRELIMO congress: always that FRELIMO meets in Congress Mozambique concentrates as its political attention for this great event of change and transformation in the Mozambican political cycle. FRELIMO under the leadership of President Filipe Nyusi has an opportunity to consolidate its internal cohesion and to define a position that the party itself is adopted in its actions, in governance and in society in general given the real political, economic and social context that characterizes Mozambique. It is also an opportunity for the Party to organize itself better in its structure and composition of its organs to face the challenges ahead.
- Year of consolidation of use of social networks and ICTs: By 2017 global media power will continue to disfavor traditional broadcasters and news providers in favor of Google, Facebook, twitter, whatsapp, other social networks and other online giants. There is likely to be more political pressure, mainly in large cities, to control the flow of "false" news and misinformation that tends to grow in these social networks. Probably, newspaper print sales continue to decline, and you can expect more publications to follow the path of newspapers that have become just digital. Mozambique will have to invest a little more to achieve a greater cyber domain and to protect itself properly.
In short, it is worth underlining that technical decisions produce technical results. Political decisions produce political results and require a lot of technical and political work to make the country thrive in 2017.
I would like to wish for a happy and healthy year of 2017, this is a promising year.
Basilio Muhate
Note: Original article in portuguese can be read here
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