In his opening speech of the 2nd ordinary meeting of the Political Bureau of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the also chief executive addressed the pandemic of covid-19 and the country's economic and political situation and left messages for the voices criticisms of the fight against corruption, especially with regard to judicial proceedings against Isabel dos Santos.
“Some consider only the best or least number of people listed, detained or sentenced to be good results, or that the State should have already recovered all assets, which is not realistic at all, since money has created the illusion in some and a false sense of impunity, not voluntarily returning the assets that belong to the Angolan people ”, underlined João Lourenço.
The MPLA president added that “the State and the Angolan justice system have no choice but to achieve the same objective through the legal means at their disposal, including international judicial cooperation”.
The President mentioned “the voices that arise in the sense that the fight against corruption is being poorly managed and that the best way out would be to organize a debate within the MPLA to solve the problem” within the political formation, but stressed that this it's not just an MPLA problem.
"It is a problem for Angolans and for society as a whole, no political force can claim the right to monopolize it, otherwise it will be understood as an attempt to whiten its people," said the head of state.
João Lourenço indicated that the debate on major national issues is always welcome as long as it is not limited to a single political party and that “the fight against corruption does not lead the political power to interfere against justice, jeopardizing independence of the courts ”.
"After the gains made by the country in terms of reputation, the MPLA is prohibited from passing erroneous and discouraging messages to society, the courts, investors and the international community," he said.
Opposition leaders, but also sectors close to the MPLA and analysts accuse the Angolan Government of making a selective fight against corruption, mainly targeting the family of ex-Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos and in particular his eldest daughter, Isabel dos Santos , showing some of them favorable to the end of the legal proceedings against the businesswoman in exchange for a negotiation to return money to the Angolan State.
Isabel dos Santos is the target of lawsuits in Angola in which the State claims about US $ 5 billion, with the Angolan Attorney General's Office recently admitted to issue an international arrest warrant in cooperation with the Portuguese authorities, but claims to be victim of persecution and accuses Angolan courts of denying him justice.
In this morning's speech, João Lourenço said that he had done more to fight corruption in his two years in office than his predecessors in the previous 43 years, stressing that this struggle left the political discourse for the first time.
"In terms of combating corruption, much more was done in two years than ever before in 43 of the 45 years of our independence," said the party's top official and president of Angola, also stressing the achievement of greater democratic opening of society, greater freedom of expression and greater independence of the organs of justice.
“Even so, with all the hard work done, there are those who, through naivety or bad faith, consider that a phenomenon rooted over the years in our society in two years should already be definitively resolved and with more visible results”, he criticized, adding that the fight against corruption went from mere political discourse to something concrete and visible to the citizens.
According to the President, "the Public Ministry and the courts started to deal with a type of crime that, while not new, simply did not reach them as if over the years they had not been committed or committed".
The President also focused on the fight against the covid-19 pandemic, stressing that even in the current context the priority remains the national economy and the need for its diversification, the increase in local production of goods and services, the increase in exports and the increase in employment.
According to the head of the Angolan executive, "a lot has been done to create a more favorable environment for private investment", highlighting measures such as combating impunity and corruption, actions that must run in parallel with the development of the economy.
With regard to the covid-19, João Lourenço referred that the disease presented countries with a double challenge, that of public health and that of the economy, any of them “seriously affected”, stressing that in this struggle “the executive does not feel alone in the trench ”, with the support of civil society, non-governmental organizations and companies.
João Lourenço promised that the executive will continue to invest in health and announced that he intends to open new hospital units this year and next.
