The leader of the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (PODEMOS), Albino Forquilha, said today that there had been no betrayal in deciding to swear in party members as deputies in the Assembly of the Republic and in the Provincial Assemblies.

Forquilha, who has been harshly criticized by public opinion, says there is a "lack of understanding" in society about the decisions taken by the political formation.

"PODEMOS hasn't betrayed anyone. There may probably have been some misunderstanding of certain decisions taken. What I feel is that there's a certain extremism," said Albino Forquilha in a live of the Center for Public Integrity (CIP).

Forquilha addressed various issues surrounding the party as well as the exchange of accusations between him and Venâncio Mondlane after the PODEMOS members took office.

The now leader of the political grouping with the second largest number of seats in parliament said that there had been an effort to coordinate with his former candidate, but that the latter "has put himself on another level".

"We made such an effort to coordinate, but Venâncio is on another level. Venâncio never told me he was going to do any of the lives he's already done, so you can't say here that Forquilha is the one who isn't coordinating," he said.

On the same occasion, Albino Forquilha lamented the fact that there are voices in society who accuse PODEMOS of having changed its position on the fight for electoral truth.

"Our divorce with some voices who say that PODEMOS has changed is because we don't want to be extremists. We are against violent extremism," said the PODEMOS leader.

Who is killing the PODEMOS members?

"We have another 300 PODEMOS members who have been murdered. The only force to which we attribute this barbarity is the Defense and Security Forces because they are the ones with the weapons. So as long as they don't identify who is behind these killings, we will continue to accuse the defense forces," he said.

(Photo DR)