The President of the Economic Associations of Mozambique - CTA, Agostinho Vuma, suggested, on Thursday (22) in Maputo, strategies to combat kidnappings and abductions, including revising the organic statute of the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), creating a specific force and investing in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

According to the representative of Mozambican entrepreneurs, kidnappings continue to condition business activity, which is why the sector is outlining proposals for strategies to reform the legal framework.

The CTA proposes that SERNIC should be disengaged from the executive branch and be supervised by the judiciary, not least to ensure greater transparency in investigations; that penalties should be increased and bail eliminated for the legal type of crime; and that a Security Advisory Commission should be set up to monitor kidnapping investigations, among other things.

With regard to strengthening security, the CTA reiterates the need to operationalize the Anti-Kidnapping Unitas well as the adoption of technological means such as video surveillance - existing in the city of Maputo.

The suggestions were expressed by Vuma during the opening of the 14th edition of presentation of the Mozambique Business Robustness Index report.

"In terms of dealing with urban crime, there are countries that can serve as models for Mozambique. There are countries with operations centers that have technological security solutions that, combined with the reaction police, manage to control the practice of violent crime, guaranteeing a reaction in real time. This list includes Argentina, Chile, Portugal, Italy and China," reads a parallel CTA document to which we have had access.

In the document, the business community states that it has been cooperating with SERNIC and the community of kidnap victims to rebuild mutual trust. This synergy includes CTA collecting images of the kidnappings to provide to SERNIC, and facilitating the collection of information from the victims' families.