Mozambique's Attorney General (PGR) is conducting searches at the premises of the National Road Transport Institute (INATRO) in Maputo, TV Sucesso reported on Monday (9). The operation comes against a backdrop of persistent allegations of irregularities, administrative failures, delays in the issuance of driving licences, and suspicions of corruption that have dogged the institution in recent years.

The information was broadcast during a live transmission by the television station, which presented the searches as a formal operation targeting the public body responsible for regulating and overseeing road transport in Mozambique.

The specific grounds for the operation, the departments being targeted, and whether any documents or equipment have been seized remain unknown at this stage. It has also not been possible to confirm whether the searches are linked to specific criminal investigations or to the administrative irregularities previously reported.

The operation comes at a time when INATRO remains under pressure to regularise the issuance of driving licences and improve service delivery to citizens, following successive government interventions aimed at correcting management and operational shortcomings.

Government Orders Restructuring

In March of this year, the government announced a restructuring of INATRO after audits conducted by the General Inspectorate of the Ministry of Transport and Logistics — complemented by an independent inspection by the Ministry of State Administration and Civil Service — identified serious institutional dysfunctions.

Among the problems identified were weaknesses in internal management, recurring failures in IT systems, delays in service delivery, a deterioration in public-facing services, and indications of corruption. At the time, the government revealed that, as of mid-February, the institution had accumulated approximately 40,000 driving licences awaiting printing and around 32,000 pending applications.

In response, a reorganisation of services was ordered, including staff redeployments, reinforcement of technical teams, and modernisation of IT systems. The process was to be monitored by an inter-institutional team through to August 2026.

Backlog and Biometric Licence Delays

Prior to the restructuring decision, INATRO had already been experiencing difficulties in issuing biometric driving licences — a situation that led the institution to announce extraordinary measures in January to accelerate document production.

The planned measures included doubling printing capacity from 750 to 1,500 licences per day and extending service hours to weekends. At the time, INATRO Director-General Cláudio Zunguze acknowledged problems in the communication between data collection and printing systems, which required manual intervention by technicians and were contributing to worsening backlogs.

The measures were intended to reduce an accumulated backlog of approximately 35,000 pending requests and to normalise issuance timelines.

Security Contractor Wage Dispute

More recently, in October, INATRO again came under scrutiny — this time over reports of unpaid wages owed to workers of a private security firm contracted to guard its premises.

Following a protest by the workers, the institute issued a statement denying that it owed any debts to the contracted company, GENERAL SECURITY, and distancing itself from direct responsibility for the alleged salary arrears.

Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=559866