"It should be the opposite, the Government should help the citizens to overcome the huge needs for a regular supply of drinking water, electricity and a minimum package of basic food for the most deprived families in suburban and rural areas", the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) stressed in a statement.
The government sent, through an SMS message, an appeal to citizens to support the fight against the new coronavirus, asking for contributions in kwanzas to a National Treasury account, deserving the disapproval of UNITA which "has followed with concern" the situation of the country, in a state of emergency since last Friday to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
The "Galo Negro" party contested the government's method of "wanting to take on the organization, mobilization and even worse, to collect monetary and asset support", as if it were the state and there were no "other public entities" better suited to "exercise solidarity and humanitarian support".
In the communiqué, the UNITA parliamentary group recalled that in other calamities, such as the drought in the south of the country, several social partners of the executive including political parties and churches, as well as businesses and citizens, were involved in separate initiatives in a "joint patriotic effort".
He therefore called on the Government not to make it impossible for these initiatives to "raise monetary and other support, and then hand it over to an entity to be identified, other than the National Treasury, to avoid confusion".
The UNITA parliamentary group argued that the entity that will be designated to manage the assistance programme of the covid-19 crisis "should do so with the greatest transparency" and present an accountability report at the end.
The main opposition party also recommended that the government mobilize means of transport to remove agricultural products from agricultural production units in some provinces (Malange, Uige, Huambo and Bié) that are in danger of deteriorating and "are already starting to become scarce in the country's biggest centre of consumption, Luanda".
Finally, he urged the population "to comply with the strict and disciplined protection measures" against the new coronavirus, "which have been transmitted by the health authorities.
