The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) has added its voice to those demanding that the government release the full details of the country’s public debt, following the revelation that over a billion dollars worth of government guaranteed debt was not disclosed, either to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or to the Mozambican taxpayers.

A statement from the OAM Human Rights Commission condemned the government’s “lack of transparency” in contracting these debts.

It pointed out that the projects financed by the debts are not included in the official list of priority projects in the government’s own Integrated Investment Plan. Furthermore, the state guarantees for the loans exceeded the limit for such guarantees stipulated in the budget law.

The OAM accused the government of going beyond the powers granted to it by the Constitution, and acting in “flagrant disrespect” for the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic. In addition to violating the budget law, it had hidden the very existence of large public debts, and the OAM believed that this constituted the crime of abuse of office.