There are strong economic interests at the highest level of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) that are pushing for the repeal of the law banning the import of left-hand drive vehicles for commercial purposes.
The point 6, of article 117, of the Highway Code, approved by Decree-Law no. 1/2011, of 23 March, establishes that “It is prohibited to import vehicles with left-hand drive for commercial purposes”.
With this provision, the legislator wanted to safeguard the aspects inherent to road safety and prevention. Remember that this device was adopted at a time when there were high accident rates on Mozambican roads. But interests at the top of the Ministry of Transport and Communications are putting pressure on the National Institute for Land Transport (INATTER) to propose the repeal of this legal provision. Such groups have decision-making power and strong interests in the freight transport sector. This sets up a clear situation of conflict of interests and abusive use of public power to satisfy private agendas to the detriment of the public interest.
