"We are on a boat without a crew, the PGR [Attorney General's Office] remains stagnant due to that lack of suitability of the pivotal element that directs the PGR [Hélder Pitta Grós]", said the secretary general to Lusa this Monday from the Union of Justice and Administrative Technicians (Sinteja) of the PGR, Elias Pinto.
Since "the winds have hovered that he (Pitta Grós) should leave, and that he was perhaps rejected, until now nothing has been discussed about this subject", he stressed.
Hélder Pitta Grós, the current PGR, ended his term at the end of 2022 and so far it is not known whether he will be reappointed or will leave office.
According to the union official, who defends the departure of Pitta Grós and his replacement by the current deputy PGR, Luís Mouta Liz, the legality inspection body in Angola "remains stagnant" due to the presence of the outgoing PGR, "which is jamming everything".
"It's still there and you don't know if it's fish or meat and we're here hesitating and walking blindly, navigating in murky waters without a compass, it's really worrying", shot the leader of Sinteja.
For Elias Pinto, the outgoing PGR "has already given everything" and, therefore, "must leave to make room for other magistrates".
"By the way, I already advised him to leave the position, because during his tenure he did nothing, everything stagnated, nothing materialized", he stressed.
At the end of December 2022, the plenary of the Superior Council for the Magistracy of the Public Prosecution Service (CSMMP) decided to renew Hélder Pitta Grós to the position of PGR and, by virtue of his duties, President of the CSMMP.
For the position of deputy prosecutors of the Republic, the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, were proposed prosecutors Inocência Maria Gonçalo Pinto and Gilberto Mizalaque, with the outgoing deputy PGR, Luís Mouta Liz, being excluded.
Asked about the choice of Sinteja for the position of PGR, Elias Pinto said that Luís Mouta Liz "is the only person in conditions and who has been dialoguing with the union", so he could put an end to the strikes.
"He is the only person who has had time to dialogue with the union and because of his performance is connoted, he, depending on the domain of the house, would be the ideal person for the position", he maintained.
Confronted with the decision of the CSMMP, which does not contain the name of Luís Mouta Liz, the secretary general of Sinteja said that the names indicated by the judiciary "are for the convenience" of the outgoing PGR.
"We are annoyed by this type of move, it must stop now (...) these names mentioned are within the competence of this individual, I mean, even if he leaves there, he will continue to give orders within the PGR and will never improve", he stressed.
The Attorney General of the Republic and deputy prosecutors are appointed by the President of the Republic, on the proposal of the Superior Council for the Magistracy of the Public Prosecution Service, for a five-year term, renewable once, as determined in article 189 of the Angolan Constitution.
Regarding the Judicial Year 2023, which formally begins on March 1, at a ceremony in which the President is due to speak, Elias Pinto regretted that the "silence" of the authorities in the face of the problems of justice technicians remains.
The problems of PGR technicians and other court justice technicians across the country "are transversal, ranging from labor issues, promotions, approval of the remuneration system, lack of vehicles for diligences and others", he noted.
"During the march stage, together with the court officials, we considered the possibility of boycotting the opening of this judicial year, through a strike", concluded Elias Pinto.
