André Mendes de Carvalho "Miau", who replaced Abel Chivukuvuku in 2018, said he left the coalition with a sense of accomplishment, rejecting the arguments presented in the letter, which was not endorsed by the presidents of the Democratic Bloc, Justino Pinto de Andrade , and the Support Party for Democracy and Development of Angola - Patriotic Alliance (PADDA-AP), Alexandre Sebastião André.
The letter is signed by the Angolan Majority Free Alliance Party (PALMA), the Angolan National Salvation Party (PNSA), the Angolan Pacific Party (PPA) and the Democratic Party for the Progress of the Angolan National Alliance (PDP-ANA).
According to André Mendes de Carvalho "Miau", there is some dissatisfaction on the part of the parties signatory to the letter, who ask to make the position available, due to his performance as leader of CASA-CE.
"And as I am president of CASA-CE based on an invitation they had made for me to preside over CASA, if they are not satisfied today, naturally I have to accede and give them back the presidency," he said.
The politician, who guaranteed to remain in the coalition and as a deputy to the National Assembly, said he has the feeling that if at the time he accepted to be president he had not done so "probably CASA would not have stayed together".
"And I think that what I have been doing, although sometimes misunderstood, I have traced the appropriate path so that CASA-CE can have a good result and fill the space that goes from UNITA [National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, the biggest party of the opposition] to the MPLA [Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, party in power]. There is a thirsty space to be filled there and CASA-CE was in fact a candidate for this filling ", he said.
André Mendes de Carvalho "Miau" acknowledged that the parties are in their right to ask that he make the position available, but the arguments used, which he did not disclose, "are completely false".
"And that is what I told you in response, that you are entitled to ask for the presidency, that I return the presidency, but that you did not need to invent falsehoods, that do not honor you, do not dignify you. For now, I leave the something like that, but if there is a need, we can then make it public and verify that there are many falsehoods that they used to try to justify my leaving CASA-CE ", he added.
The CASA-CE deputy also said that he will essentially work in parliament, because he does not want to "shadow" the new leader of the coalition, adding that he has been proposed to be the main adviser to the new president, who does not know who he will be.
"But I cannot accept this for a simple reason, if as president they understood that the strategies and paths I was pointing out are not the most appropriate, then what advice am I going to give to the new president, I think so, because the this is my belief, I will not give advice different from what I actually think ", he said.
The former leader of the second largest opposition force considered the measure taken by his colleagues "hasty", because the next general election in 2022 is approaching.
According to André Mendes de Carvalho "Miau", as a leader he presented as a strategy and priority the creation of nuclei for the organization of militants, which "is a more enduring job", but his teammates were not used to it.
"They preferred walks, with loudspeakers, yes, ma'am, it is agitation, it is part of the job, but if we really want to occupy this space, which goes from UNITA to MPLA, that central space, we have to have a different strategy, and The first measure is the party's infrastructure, its rooting within the community ", he pointed out.
"Unfortunately, this orientation was resisted by some comrades and we were insisting and we had this difference, among others, now that the elections are approaching, I think they will feel some fear, they are concerned to see if we will actually be able to achieve the objectives and it is this nervousness and fear that is one of the causes that leads them to this measure, which I consider to be hasty, but they are in their right to be able to do it ", he stressed.
André Mendes de Carvalho "Miau" said that there is also a vice-president of CASA-CE with an aspiration to lead the coalition, which is legitimate "it is not a crime, it is not a sin, but it must do things properly and not say the job is failing ".
"Without the inclusion of CASA-CE in the community, we will by no means achieve a good result, my goal was 50 deputies, let's see what the new leaders can do in this regard," he said.
Regarding the old battle, already left by Abel Chivukuvuku, of transforming the coalition into a party, the resigning president said that when he assumed the presidency, the member parties agreed with the intention, however, after some time they retreated in their positions.
"But this issue of transformation to a political party is an essential issue", considered the politician, stressing that he never noticed their willingness to become a party.
"They are still very attached, each one to his party and I did not believe that they would be able to mark this step, but it would be good to mark this idea of transformation, an idea that unites, calls new members, which allows to compete with the MPLA and UNITA in a more equal way, because a coalition of six parties, six president, six heads, each with its own thinking, is like an aircraft carrier maneuvering in restricted waters ", he stressed.
When he took over the presidency of CASA-CE, in May 2019, André Mendes de Carvalho said that he faced problems with the lack of tables, previously filled by followers of Abel Chivukuvuku, and financial, with many debts contracted in the general elections of 2012 and 2017 , when buying cars or advertising material.
"And when we started we had this deficit, deficit in advertising, because the shirts had been made with the face of the former president and only in this issue of the shirts that we had ordered to be made in China we had a debt of 5 million dollars and all this meant that there was a decrease in what was the performance of CASA-CE ", he said.
