"I respect. My opinion is that, as the bylaws say, ESC members can have perks or perks can be provided. I think that the issue of cars, like other councils, other councilors of the President of the Republic, who are entitled to a car, is not something that shocks me”, said José Otávio Serra Van-Dúnem.
The official reacted, after the 1st ordinary meeting of the CES, to the controversy surrounding the attribution of vehicles, worth US$200,000 each, to the members of the CES, which comprises 44 people.
According to the CES coordinator, the subject is based on “an opinion created by someone, who has a certain opinion on a certain point”.
The allocation of luxury vehicles, with an estimated cost of around US$8 million, was initially disclosed by economist Carlos Rosado de Carvalho on his Twitter social network account and has generated criticism from some analysts, although the Presidency has not pronounced on the topic.
According to José Otávio Serra Van-Dúnem, the CES members are concerned about the work they are going to develop and are committed to the agenda, "so there was no space" for discussing this topic.
“In fact, I am not going to go into the merits of this discussion, which took on other contours and which seem to me to be counterproductive to what the CES mission is”, he added.
“The CES has a lot more to look at, we come from a first term, where we produce work, the work is published, and we haven't seen any line on that, so now, for the challenge that lies ahead, we are focused exactly in continuing to work and continuing to respond to the demands made by the President of the Republic”, he underlined.
Serra Van-Dúnem highlighted that the offer of this benefit can be declined. “They can definitely decline,” he said.
Asked if anyone had rejected the vehicle, he replied: "Not to my knowledge yet, but in any case, without a doubt, it is an individual decision for each one".
On the same subject, the president of the Industrial Association of Angola (AIA), José Severino, also a councilor and who said he had dispensed with the vehicle, is of the opinion that “there has to be some adaptation”. “Because there are members who don't have the financial capacity to buy a car. Anyone who wants to do without [dispenses with], as there has already been. I waived it because I already have cars and a car is an expense, so I waived it, ”he said.
However, continued the president of the AIA, there are “young people, people, who cannot afford to buy a car”.
“And, therefore, I think that, with restraint, with some humility, people should be able to work, because they will have to travel to meetings and will give a lot of their time without being paid. Therefore, I say that it is affection, but that we have to be humble with the way we give these affections”, he stressed.
José Severino also said that he proposed insurance against all risks, because the good belongs to the State, reiterating that “for some it is a situation that will increase their effectiveness, their efficiency, without which it would be impossible”.
“The car does not belong to the councilor, it belongs to the State, as a State car, the proposal I made is that it has insurance against all risks. Because there are situations that an individual counselor delegates to a driver, there is a disaster, it can be the most serious, even with incidents that can take someone's life, and how is the counselor? It will not be able to compensate, it is a role of the State, because the property belongs to the State”, he stressed.
Lusa questioned other advisers, but they refused to comment on the matter.
