"Despite the PGR [attorney general of the Republic] having ended its five-year mandate, last December, in accordance with the law of the PGR and the Public Prosecutor's Office in its article 136.º in possession of a new PGR", said this Tuesday the spokesman for the attorney general's office, Álvaro João, in statements to Lusa.
Rejecting the alleged "lack of suitability" of Hélder Pitta Grós in office, the spokesman said that, while the new attorney general has not been appointed and sworn in, he remains in office "exercising his powers in accordance with the law ".
"This is precisely what is happening and the law, on the other hand, does not stipulate a deadline for the effect", explained Álvaro João, reacting to the position of the Union of Justice and Administrative Technicians (Sinteja) of the PGR, which accused the PGR of "lack of suitability".
Álvaro João, also a magistrate of the PGR, realized that Sinteja's demands, in the field of promotion, salary updating, improvement of working conditions and others, have been resolved, despite some constraints, urging Sinteja to "consider".
Justice and administrative technicians of the PGR said, on Monday, that the body "is stagnant" due to the "lack of suitability" of the current PGR, lamenting the "lack of response" to the claims on the eve of the opening of the judicial year, scheduled for March 1 and in the meantime postponed without date.
"We are on a boat without a crew, the PGR remains stagnant due to the lack of suitability of the pivotal element that directs the PGR [Hélder Pitta Grós]", PGR Sinteja secretary general, Elias Pinto, told Lusa.
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 leader, 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.
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.
This Tuesday, in reaction to statements by Elias Pinto, the spokesman for the PGR, alluding to the law, said that Pitta Grós should only cease his duties after the appointment and inauguration of the new attorney general.
Regarding the complaints from the PGR technicians, Álvaro João reported that during his term of office, and in light of the complaints contained in the Sinteja claim booklet, the attorney general appointed, in February, 148 justice technicians to leadership positions in the different areas.
"Still in 2022, 48 justice technicians were promoted in the career in the public tender held, also, last year, 402 new justice technicians were framed and 1,536 justice and administrative technicians moved from career and category", justified.
As for the issue of remuneration, "the attribution of subsidies of 30 percent was carried out" for justice technicians who perform functions with the SIC (Criminal Investigation Service), a law that had been approved in 2012, but which was only applied last year.
In the field of training, Álvaro João noted that, recently, the PGR sent 30 justice technicians to Mozambique, 21 of which for initial training of judges and the rest for training of trainers, in the meantime back in the country.
"There was also training for magistrates and officials within the scope of the unified justice system, training for secretarial acts for technicians, training for technicians to exercise acts before the courts of relationship and also training on the judicial community in the resolution of commercial disputes", assured.
Regarding the remuneration status of PGR justice technicians, he explained, this "has already had the contribution of the commission created for negotiations with the union and a meeting has been scheduled for next Friday".
As for complaints related to transport and improvement of working conditions, "they have been a constant concern of the Attorney General of the Republic who has taken steps with the bodies dedicated to responding to such situations", he added.
He also stressed that "not everything should be resolved immediately, as one wants", because "it does not depend exclusively on the will of the organ holder".
"For this reason, the direction of the PGR calls on the union body representing justice and administrative technicians to have more weight and seek to exhaust its dialogue at the negotiating table, to have greater weighting of the interests at stake, always striving for aspects linked to the interests of its associates", concluded Álvaro João.
