In a statement issued this Monday, the "shadow government" of UNITA made several criticisms of the actions of the Government led by João Lourenço since the beginning of the state of emergency decreed on 27 March.
UNITA draws the attention of Angolans not to be distracted "because the MPLA and its executive intend to divert the focus of the citizens, trying to get them to focus all their attention on covid-19 and forget about hunger, precarious health, the terrible quality of education in the country, the blatant and unacceptable lack of water and light, the degraded communication routes that hinder the circulation of people and goods".
Two months after the state of emergency began, UNITA found that many families face serious difficulties, including hunger, forcing many Angolans to resort to rat hunting and dumpsters in search of food.
"The announcements made to support the neediest populations with the basic food basket have not been carried out satisfactorily, judging by the information and findings, as the campaign in question is suffering from addictions, which increasingly aggravates the living conditions of vulnerable citizens who do not know whether they die at home confined to hunger or go out on the streets in search of supplies to alleviate hunger, while covid-19 does not knock on their door," criticizes the "shadow government" of the Black Rooster party.
UNITA warns that with the emergence of covid-19, the government "forgets or pretends to forget other diseases that are the greatest cause of death", pointing to deaths from tuberculosis, diabetes, kidney failure and other chronic diseases, but especially malaria, and reports of the emergence of an outbreak of icteric febrile syndrome and hemorrhagic fever.
"The UNITA Shadow Government believes that the situation of the new coronavirus should not cause hospitals to have their services conditioned, as the executive should build field hospitals and create wards in existing hospitals for the treatment of covid-19 patients," the statement said, calling on the Ministry of Health to review "such measures that are offensive to the dignity of the human person and allow citizens to be assisted.
They also criticize João Lourenço's executive "for continuing to offer scandals to society stemming from the corruption that is said to be being combated, from poor financial management, from embezzlement, from compadrio, from influence peddling, while citizens die of a lack of everything".
At stake is the recent announcement by the government of the Ngombe condominium, an infrastructural area with 200 residences, in the municipality of Calumbo (municipality of Viana, province of Luanda) to serve as a pandemic treatment center, for the value of 25 million dollars.
"Each residence will cost us 124,880.94 dollars", criticizes UNITA, questioning what is being done with the properties seized in recent months and claiming that the houses in question are low-income and their real market value is only 13,000 euros.
"The most serious thing is that information reaching the ears of all citizens reveals that these houses belong to the advisor to the Minister of State and Head of the Security House of the President of the Republic who is, as we all know, coordinator of the intersectoral commission for the fight against covid-19", says UNITA, adding that it has sent technicians to the site "where these millionaire houses are built", noting that they are in an advanced state of degradation.
UNITA also questions the spending on the 244 Cuban doctors hired to support the fight against covid-19, admitting that the cost could reach 17.6 million dollars per year.
"How many Angolan doctors could the state pay with the salary of each Cuban doctor? How many Angolans could the state get out of unemployment, with direct and indirect jobs?", asks the shadow government of UNITA, led by the former vice-president of the Raúl Danda party.
