"UNITA has the strength of the people. UNITA has taken on the anguish and disappointment of the people to this day. It has held them back, and it has paid a very high price for holding the people back, ensuring stability", says the deputy and leader of the Revolutionary United Youth of Angola (JURA), the youth wing of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), in an interview with Lusa news agency.
"I am certain that UNITA will no longer be able to do anything. I am certain of this because the people are tired", he adds, stressing that the Angolan population, mostly young, "wants to live with dignity in their homeland".
"Yesterday they denied us bread. Today we want everything. Therefore, I think that the MPLA [Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which has governed the country since independence, celebrates its 50th anniversary on 11 November] has to be prepared and must have the flexibility to start building the pillars of a democratic political transition in accordance with the Constitution and the law", he adds.
Nelito Ekuikui believes that the MPLA "insists on a logic of remaining in power by force" while the people, he interprets, "want freedom, hunger, health and education".
"The greatest interest and responsibility for stability in Angola lies with the MPLA. The MPLA is responsible for everything that will happen or is happening in Angola", he adds, considering that the party in power in Angola "has the instruments capable of avoiding any social instability resulting from the financial crisis, the deep social crisis, the deep crisis of values. Only the MPLA can do it".
Looking at his party, which is holding a congress in November where the leadership of its leader, Adalberto da Costa Júnior, could be contested, Nelito Ekuikui does not want to make any major comments.
"I think it is premature to talk about candidacies. It is premature to talk about the congress. We have enough time. It is premature insofar as the party has a legitimate leadership, and this leadership must lead the entire process, the entire strategy for assuming power", he responds.
Asked whether he would agree with Adalberto da Costa Júnior continuing as leader of UNITA, Nelito Ekuikui, whose work during the campaign for the 2022 general elections resulted in an unprecedented victory over the MPLA in the province of Luanda, says that the party leader "has had results. The results that President Adalberto has given Angola cannot be denied".
"I would say Angola and not UNITA. Angola. He broke a paradigm that had not been broken for a long time, so that in itself says a lot. There is no point in arguing. There is a leadership that has had results. They are there for anyone to see", he adds.
"The main interest is that the people's pain is acknowledged here. I feel that there are people in Angola who bleed every day. There are people who suffer. There are people who cry without any prospects of building bridges to the future. Why? Because the established power in Angola has abandoned its responsibility. UNITA has done its job. I believe it has done its job well," he says.
As for his role in this process, Nelito Ekuikui says he will continue to be "a voice" within the party.
"I will continue to denounce, continue to work with the people so that, in the very near future, I will be part of the generation of young people who will effectively lead the change that Angola so awaits," he concludes.
