In a press conference, the leader of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Liberty Chiyaka, said that the party is committed to dialogue with all public authorities and society, to promote participatory democracy and make local authorities a reality in Angola during the current legislature.
Liberty Chiyaka stressed that, with the presentation of this initiative, "the excuses for not scheduling the discussion and final global vote on the law that creates the local authorities are outdated".
"If, after having heard several voices – the President of the Republic, the president of the MPLA [Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, party in power], different members of the executive, different members of the MPLA –, they publicly assume their desire to carry out autonomous, if after these political speeches, when the UNITA parliamentary group enters the National Assembly we see delaying maneuvers, Angolans will have every reason to demonstrate and demand local authorities, the moment will be defined by the regime's stance", he said.
According to Liberty Chiyaka, the Government's Proposed Law for the Institutionalization of Local Authorities was submitted to the National Assembly in 2017 and after seven years it has not yet been approved "because there is a lack of political will".
"The bill that will be presented by the UNITA parliamentary group will be submitted to the National Assembly as a matter of urgency. We will mobilize citizens to demand that this be fulfilled. Under the terms of the Constitution and the law, a certain number of deputies can demand Scheduling any urgent matter is what we will do", he stressed.
The leader of the UNITA parliamentary group reiterated that, "if the regime, the parliamentary majority", rejects this initiative, "Angolans will respond".
"The deputies did their part, from today the public consultation officially begins, within the framework of the calendar defined by the parliamentary group. We will distribute this project to everyone, we will collect contributions, there are 30 days of public consultation", he highlighted.
Liberty Chiyaka declared that "deputies will join the people and will not allow themselves to be permanently disrespected in their own country".
"Citizen participation in the management of public affairs has been in the Constitution since 1992, we have not had local authorities for 30 years. It is a shame and we cannot accept this shame, the time is now, our stance will depend on the parliamentary majority", he added.
The President, João Lourenço, said, in 2023, that the executive "has long fulfilled its part" in the process of institutionalizing local authorities, a situation that has "been going on for years" as it seeks "the greatest possible consensus".
At the last plenary meeting, the president of the National Assembly responded to the leader of the UNITA parliamentary group that the proposal to institutionalize local authorities entered parliament in the 2017-2022 legislature, but was expired at the end of the legislature, according to parliamentary rules and customs.
"Therefore, as no legislative initiative has been introduced so far on the matter in this legislature, we are waiting for the deputies and the executive, by virtue of article 167 of the Constitution, to take the legislative initiative on the matter", said Carolina Cerqueira.
The leader of the UNITA parliamentary group said that "all that explanation given is useless", because there is no custom that says "that a law that was discussed in the previous legislature can no longer continue, it is not true".
Liberty Chiyaka said that local power is not the only way to overcome the population's problems, "but it is the best", because the model of concentration of power, of administrative centralization, "that Angola implemented for 50 years has failed".
The proposed law on the institutionalization of local authorities is the only piece of legislation in the municipal legislative package that has not yet been approved, with the first local elections to be scheduled since 2020.
