The coordinator of the forum, Alberto Mahuai, cited in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", said that, contrary to allegations by some of the former migrants, the money is being kept safe with the authorities, and is to be distributed between the various provincial delegations of the Forum, according to the number of members in each of them.
He explained that the idea is not to divide the money among the members, as some had demanded, but to use it to finance concrete projects suggested by the members in order to create a basis of sustainability.
"It is clear that the idea cannot be to divide the money between the 21,877 former migrants, because that would not help achieve our objective, which is to ensure our social reinsertion.
It will be up to each provincial nucleus to ensure that the former workers decide on feasible projects so that this money has a multiplier effect", said Mahuai.
He admitted that levels of understanding and organization are different from one province to another across the country, but he believed that most of them will take the challenge to heart and take the opportunity to develop projects to improve their lives.
Speaking specifically of the Maputo city nucleus, where the majority of the members are living, he expressed fear about the poor level of organization, but was optimistic that, in the end, the idea will work out across the country.
"Our objective is to see this money being multiplied by the associates so that we are not later accused of shooting ourselves in the foot", said Mahuai. "We think that this is a unique opportunity we are being given to show the value of our imagination, and we are taking this as a challenge to do some hard work".
As for finding out the exact number of former migrants who have returned and are living in Mozambique, Mahuai said there is an ongoing enquiry across the country, based on the existing data, to determine how many of them are in each province.
He said that to this end the Forum has requested the assistance of the Labour Ministry, through the provincial Labour delegations in the various provinces.
SOURCE: AIM
