Civil society: the Coalition 1:0 the Alliance

Unity is a force, provided that difficulties to complete it are overcome. The Coalition of various civil society’s organizations opened its doors to the alliance of citizen organizations citizens, following an inconvenient unilateral move. The institution, basically designated by the HAT to prepare  and lead the consultations of citizens as a settlement to the crisis as well as a path towards new republic, imposed July 28th to July 30th as dates for the” Dinika santatra”, the preliminary talks. The national dialog would be held in August without further accuracy. This decision was made public on the eve of the meeting supposed to lead to the union between both institutions to be capitalized by a National Coordination of Civil society’s Organizations ( local CNOSC).  

The Coalition shot first and organized nearly everything. “We are going to send an envoy in every district with the necessary Dinikas santatra’s organization related indications, everything will be ready on Monday July 19th “, declared Aristide Velompanahy. According to the coordinator of the civil society’s Coalition, local actors are fully responsible for the preparations throughout districts “.   

“Such a move does not bother collaboration with the other members of the civil society “, argued Velompanahy Aristide. The alliance, however, challenged this unilateral decision produced by the Coalition, for believing that drawing conclusions about the dialogs’ schedules should be stemming jointly from both of the civil society’s best representatives. The two formations were different by their political position” “. The Coalition follows the HAT and the Rajoelina mobility’s trend, and mainly aims at the establishment of a constitutional project to be dedicated to the 4th Republic. The alliance is, on the other hand, in search of a political solution prior to tackling the elections, and consequently aims at capitalizing national reconciliation and the amnesty.  

The national dialog process’ financing is equally a cause for division. The alliance would like to require international support for the sake of neutrality. The Raiamandreny Paul Ramino does not agree, and defends the Coalition. “Funds from the state are the people’s money. This issue concerns the people, and the state has a responsibility “, he argued. The pastor and former deputy emphasized that “it does not mean that the organizers are obeying the state”.  

“No one is pressuring us, the Alliance, and no one can expect to do so any more”, claimed Lalao Randriamampionona. She reported that the stand adopted by the civil society’s other organization has changed: “the debate doesn’t exclusively focus on Maputo, but rather on the quest for a consensual and pacific “. Various groups stemming from the civil society are agreeing on at leats one point: no one does want to concede to the dictating authority’s pressure.