Graça Machel questions hiring of international contractors for public works in Mozambique

Mozambican social activist Graça Machel on Monday criticised the repeated hiring of foreign companies and specialists in public tenders for infrastructure construction financed by international partners, questioning the exclusion of national engineers from major projects. Graça Machel was speaking in Chimoio, in Manica province in central Mozambique, during the inaugural lecture of Púnguè University, under the theme “Youth Builds the Future: Training and Patriotism for National Sustainable Development”. But the World Bank is not giving us the money.

It is lending it to us. We are going to repay it,” the activist questioned. According to Mozambique’s first Minister of Education (1975) and widow of the historic former Mozambican President Samora Machel (1933–1986), the country ends up bearing double costs by hiring external companies to carry out projects financed through international loans.

“At the moment, we pay foreigners to come and build roads and bridges for us, we pay the bank and we pay the foreigners. But how many engineers do we have? Engineers of various specialisations,” she asked.

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Graça Machel argued that Mozambican universities must play a central role in training professionals capable of leading major structural projects in the country. “Who builds our roads in Mozambique? Who builds our roads and bridges?

It is foreigners, isn’t it? That means that this know-how, this ability to transform, must produce elites from our universities — and from this one in particular — elites who will build our roads, bridges, dams and cities, but also ensure that we do not continue to suffer hunger as if it were normal,” said Graça Machel. She added that national development also depends on the country’s ability to use scientific knowledge to address economic and social challenges, including food security: “Agronomists, veterinarians and others must know how to create a Mozambique, to build a Mozambique without hunger. A Mozambique in which we are the material builders of our own development.” At the same ceremony, Graça Machel also warned about educational challenges affecting young people, noting that “31% of young people are illiterate, 25% have not completed any level of education, only 18% go beyond primary education, and 1.5% reach higher education.”

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