After heated debates, which led to the session starting on Friday being resumed this Monday, the document was approved with 117 votes in favor of the majority party Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA) and the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), 80 votes against from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and four abstentions from the Social Renewal Party (PRS) and National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA).
During the discussions, with 51 interventions and 24 points of order, which led the President of the National Assembly, Carolina Cerqueira, to ask the deputies for serenity several times, exchanges of accusations were heard, criticism from the majority of opposition colleagues, more specifically from UNITA , for never approving the budget.
In his speech, MPLA deputy Osvaldo Cacula said that it is "practice" for a group of deputies not to approve the General State Budgets, "but when they leave this room they want to enjoy the goods that this budget results", which led the first vice president of UNITA's parliamentary group to ask for a point of order.
"If the deputies came here to approve their salaries, please make your place available. We came here to approve instruments that improve the living conditions of thousands of Angolans and while the appropriations and execution do not correspond to the improvement of living conditions of Angolans do not count on us", said Albertina Navita Ngolo.
The PHA, in the voice of its deputy Fernando Dinis, justified the vote in favor of the responsibility of "not discriminating through the budget against ethnic minorities, vulnerable people, the impoverished and women".
The UNITA parliamentary group said that the vote against it is due to the fact that it considers that the 2023 State Budget proposal insists on the "absurdity of exaggerated authorizations to the holder of executive power, configuring a risk for the efficient and effective management of public finances, thus contributing to the promotion of monopolies and oligopolies, which, paradoxically, the President of the Republic set out to combat".
"The proposal for the General State Budget does not provide for the effective institutionalization of municipalities in all municipalities, postponing the participation of citizens in the management of public affairs. The parliamentary group could have given the benefit of the doubt in this vote in general, but the practice has demonstrated that the Government does not change its proposal in the specific discussion", said Américo Chivukuvuku.
On his turn, MPLA parliamentary bench member Kilamba Van-Dúnem justified the party's vote, stressing that despite the overall financial situation the country is currently facing, this proposal constitutes the "guarantee of the backbone of the exercise of the executive, without which it will not be possible to secure the financial resources, to proceed with the execution of all the actions that aim to maintain the functionality of the institutions and the economy in a context in which the country continues to live a difficult moment".
"In addition to the recovery of economic growth, through the commitment to diversifying the economy, the priority is the protection of the most vulnerable families and the income of company workers, the sustainability of public debt and the reinforcement of sectoral measures, which contribute not only to boosting the non-oil sector, but also to make our economy more resilient to external shocks through prudent management of the country's public finances", he stressed.
The OGE 2023 proposal presents estimated revenues and expenses of around 20.1 billion kwanzas, of which 13.4 billion kwanzas are tax revenue and 6.6 billion kwanzas are financial revenue.
