Chapo vows to fight corruption as he takes the helm in Mozambique

Mozambique President Daniel Chapo during his inauguration in Maputo on January 15, 2025.

Photo credit: Daniel Chapo via X

Mozambique's new President Daniel Chapo pledged on Wednesday to leave no room for corruption, telling an audience he would run a clean government.

Mr Chapo, whose victory sparked spirited street protests by the opposition groups that turned violent, told an audience of about 2,500 people, including two of his African counterparts, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and from Umaro Sissoco of Guinea Bissau, that he would reform procument systems of government agencies across the board.

One way of doing this, he said, would be to create a state procurement centre, which will plan and oversee public procurement processes.

Mr Chapo formally took over from his predecessor Filipe Nyusi, whose tenure was marred by corruption scandals.

“Together we will rescue patriotism and the pride of being Mozambican,” he said at the Independence Square in Maputo.

Other countries such as Malawi, Kenya, Eswatini, Rwanda, Tanzania, Madagascar, Equatorial Guinea, Sahrawi Republic, Portugal, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Congo, Algeria, Egypt, India and Uganda sent representatives to the ceremony.

“Let's build a cleaner and more efficient nation,” Mr Chapo, 48, said adding that he wanted a State that works in plain sight, with clear and transparent reporting and accountability.

Outgoing President Nyusi bid farewell with a sense of gratitude after a decade at the helm of the southern African country.

“It is with respect and gratitude to all Mozambicans, at home and abroad, that I bid farewell, since the people have given me the great opportunity to govern them,” Mr Nyusi said, adding that one of his achievements was the decimation of an insurgency up in the north of the country. 

But Mr Chapo inherits a country with new challenges, including a polarised political environment. The insurgency in Cabo Delgado province is not completely defeated either. Mozambique has also been hit by floods, storms and drought in recent years. But his immediate task is to pacify opposition and civil society groups, some of which have said they will not recognise his authority as President.

The opposition groups say Mr Chapo was elected in a rigged vote. 

On Tuesday, a number of Mozambican civil society organisations submitted a petition calling on the African Union not to recognise Mr Chapo as President, denouncing “electoral fraud” and “human rights violations”.

The civil rights groups that monitored the October 9 elections, represented by the Pan-African Lawyers Union, submitted a petition asking the African Union to consider the situation in Mozambique as an illegal change of government.

The document was delivered to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in Banjul, Gambia, said Donald Deya, executive director of the Pan-African Lawyers Union, at a virtual press conference.

On Monday, lawmakers from the ruling Frelimo party were sworn in, as were those from the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), the party that backed opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane in the elections, but others boycotted the ceremony.

Hundreds of youth took to the streets in several Maputo neighbourhoods to protest against the swearing-in of MPs on Monday.