The position was expressed by the leader of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Liberty Chiaka, in a press conference on the problem of garbage in Luanda.
Liberty Chiaka considered that the governor of Luanda, Joana Lina, "no longer has the morale to continue directing efforts towards the reversal of the crisis," and should assume "political and administrative responsibility for the garbage crisis in Luanda.
"Thus, we understand that the intervention of the executive, in the person of the holder of the executive power, is imperative to put an end to the situation and prevent the disaster from assuming greater proportions that are difficult to control," he said.
For the UNITA parliamentary leader, as the person primarily responsible for the country's management, the President of the Republic "should exonerate her for incompetence.
"For every death that occurs in Luanda, the responsibility should be laid on the President of the Republic, who in his inauguration swore to comply and enforce the Constitution that imposes that the State respects and protects the right to life, [which] is inviolable," he stressed.
According to the deputy, the situation has assumed "such alarming proportions" that it constitutes "a serious attack on public health, worthy of a declaration of a public calamity situation."
Liberty Chiaka recalled that on March 30, the parliamentary group of UNITA requested the president of the National Assembly a joint hearing, as a matter of urgency, to the ministers of Culture, Tourism and Environment, Finance and the governor of Luanda, without, however, having any response so far.
"Behavior that we consider very serious, taking into account the fact that legitimate representatives of the Angolan people want the assistants of the holder of the executive power, the due clarification of the urgent measures for the resolution of the garbage crisis in Luanda," he said.
The parliamentary group of UNITA and its deputies, he added, "are extremely concerned with the catastrophic situation of garbage in the province of Luanda, because the lack of basic sanitation on this scale causes in the communities sanitary insecurity, diseases related to the lack of public cleaning, diseases related to the piles of garbage in contact with the waters of the rains, rivers and the sea, which are the source of food for the citizens of Luanda, who consume the fish from the rivers and the sea contaminated with the garbage dragged by the rains.
"This miserable scenario of garbage and diseases can only be imputable to Mr. President of the Republic, as holder of the executive power and maximum manager of the General State Budget," indicated the deputy.
"In Luanda we are already facing an evident crisis situation [garbage crisis], the most visible face being the flies that acintintinously invade our homes, the evident increase in the population of mosquitoes and the disgusting larvae that crawl to everything that is close to the vast focuses of garbage scattered throughout the city," he added.
At issue is the problem of solid waste management in the capital, which began in December 2020, when the governor of Luanda announced the suspension of contracts with cleaning and garbage collection companies, due to an inability to settle a debt of 246 billion kwanzas, indexed to the dollar.
Following this, the President of the Republic approved an expenditure of 34.89 billion kwanzas, for the acquisition of public cleaning and solid waste collection services.
A call for tenders was opened, and seven of the 39 companies that applied won, which will ensure the cleaning of the nine municipalities of Luanda, however, almost three weeks after the announcement they have not yet started their activities, and the piles of garbage in all areas of the province are still visible.
