Liberty Chiaka was speaking this Thursday in the period before the agenda, at the beginning of the 2nd Ordinary Plenary Meeting, referring to the 5th Legislative Session of the parliament, pointing out "serious violations of the National Assembly's regiment", in relation to which he asked clarification.
The chairman of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) said that three applications had been sent, of which only one could be presented, and he presented a protest vote against what he considered as censorship.
"For the first time, since we have live broadcast of parliamentary sessions, the presentation of the application was not broadcast live, there was censorship, there was an intentional cut", he criticized.
"The journalists who were here were invited to leave the room so as not to cover the presentation of the request by the UNITA parliamentary group. Why", he asked, regretting that the request for a declaration of vote on the discussion of the strike was also denied of teachers.
According to the politician, these are "serious violations of the National Assembly's regiment". "What we are experiencing today is very serious. (...) If it is from the house of laws that the violation of these same laws comes, what message are we going to transmit to the country", the politician also questioned.
The President of the National Assembly, Fernando da Piedade dos Santos "Nandó" (MPLA), corrected Liberty Chiaka, stating that UNITA did not make three, but four requests, which are receiving "due treatment" and said he would know " what happened" with the television broadcast, causing laughter in the plenary.
"If it's true, we here don't realize it," he said, adding that the secretary-general would investigate what happened.
Parliamentary sessions were broadcast on the Public Television of Angola (TPA) until 1998, but were interrupted for several years, having returned in January 2020, a decision by President João Lourenço that the opposition applauded.
Last week, UNITA announced that it would present a set of "political-legislative initiatives within the framework of electoral transparency" and that it sent two requests to the President of the National Assembly, one of which related to the "immediate constitution of a (possible) special commission to accompany the good organization of the elections".
The "black rooster" party also requested a parliamentary hearing of the president and the plenary of the National Electoral Commission (CNE), by one of the specialized commissions of the National Assembly.
UNITA also requested a discussion for today on the strike of higher education teachers, "a relevant and urgent matter", and a discussion for March 2nd on the "unequal treatment" of political parties in the public press.
The plenary is expected to vote on the draft law on the Right to Petition, draft law on the Right to Popular Action, draft law on Anti-Doping in Sport, discussion and vote on the draft resolution approving, for ratification, the Agreement on Mobility among the Member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), among other points.
UNITA complains of censorship in parliament
The parliamentary leader of UNITA, the Angolan opposition, complained that the party was being censored due to the fact that the presentation of its requests in parliament was not broadcast live on television.
