Mozambique: Administrative Tribunal Prevents Irregular Expenditure Totaling 1.2 Billion Meticais

What the report says

Mozambique’s Administrative Tribunal (TA), the state body that reviews the legality of public spending, said it stopped 1.2 billion meticais in irregular expenditure in the first half of 2026. The figure, reported in Maputo by state news agency AIM and published by AllAfrica, was presented by TA spokesperson Arquimedes Varrimelo during a briefing on the institution’s midyear results.

The tribunal said the prevented spending was tied to a range of problems in public files and procurement processes, including contracts and appointments without budget backing, missing documents, late submissions, and cases that did not meet transparency or public tender rules. It also cited the overuse of direct award procedures, particularly for maintenance contracts, where officials found no legal basis for bypassing standard procurement steps.

The TA said the amount was much higher than in the same period of 2025, when it reported preventing 360 million meticais in irregular spending. It also said the Public Accounts Section carried out 55 audits in the first half of 2026, up from 14 a year earlier, and that 1,925 public entities submitted management accounts, compared with 1,850 in the prior-year period.

Beyond blocking spending, the tribunal said it recovered 88.5 million meticais in the period, above the 51 million meticais recovered in the first half of 2025. It urged the public administration to improve transparency, budget discipline, internal controls, and compliance with procurement rules. More broadly, such findings matter because they point to ongoing oversight challenges in public finance management and the role of audit institutions in preventing unlawful spending before money is disbursed.