Ver Angola

Politics

Hunger, misery and prostitution have increased in the country in almost 50 years of independence, says UNITA deputy

UNITA deputy Francisco Viana considered this Monday that Angola is in a “catastrophic situation”, where hunger and misery have increased and crime and prostitution “have skyrocketed”, in almost half a century of independence, defending a “consensual nation project”.

: Lusa
Lusa  

Francisco Viana, one of the 90 deputies of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), elected for the 2022-2027 legislature, defended that Angola needs to "develop and approve democratically and patriotically a national project of consensus, to stop the increased social tension".

According to the deputy, in an open letter to which Lusa had access this Monday, he outlines a dramatic scenario of the situation of the population in Angola and makes harsh criticisms of the rulers, "the majority of the people continue without electricity and without piped water".

"In the neighborhoods, insecurity prevails and the bandits are in charge. When it rains, no one sleeps, the streets flood and the rain mixes with the sewers, garbage, rats and cockroaches, which then increase the cases of malaria, typhoid fever and other diseases", reads the letter.

"A humiliating, desperate scenario, I say, extremely revolting", he says.

In his eight-page letter, Viana even says "it is not admissible" that a people, holder of so much natural wealth and with a "working and wonderful population, with so many young people willing to study and work, have to live in so much misery".

Francisco Viana is a well-known Angolan businessman and former member of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), a party he left a year ago because he was "dissatisfied" with the direction of the country.

In this eight-page missive, the son of Gentil Viana, a historic Angolan nationalist and leader of the MPLA, states that "no one can pretend not to see the suffering and discontent of our people".

"Our moms, our young people, former combatants, our middle class, farmers, civil servants, police, military, teachers, doctors and nurses, even MPLA militants", he points out.

"We are all fed up with this hell, which some call paradise, where hunger is called relative and where many eat from garbage containers, and a very restricted minority lives in the greatest fortune, in the greatest waste", he stresses.

For the elected UNITA deputy, within the scope of the United Patriotic Front (FPU), the leaders, who he says "were not chosen, but who imposed themselves by force and with intimidation, weapons trampling the law", spend "billions of dollars in contracts awarded without public tender".

Francisco Viana says that corruption in Angola has become widespread: "Each one knows where he is tied up. Money no longer circulates in Angola, there are no more dollars, but there are no kwanzas either (...). Businessmen no longer have money, businesses continue to close".

He also considers that the diversification of the economy "takes a long time to happen", small and medium-sized entrepreneurs cannot get loans and interest rates and the exchange rate are "extremely high".

"And, as if that were not enough, the executive decided, once again, without listening to anyone, to fail with his promises and instead of lowering the price of gasoline, as promised, they decided to triple the price of it", he said, contesting the increase in the price of gasoline, since last Friday, due to the cut in state subsidies.

He also criticized the situation of the Angolan justice system, which in his opinion "does not work and cannot be independent".

"The executive commands justice, the party [in power] commands and kidnaps the State. The party commands the police, the unions, the professional orders, the army. We are kidnapped by the party, by the monster, by the octopus. They own all of this", he wrote.

The politician also considers that health in Angola "is a pity", infrastructure, roads, basic sanitation, water and mobility "are a mirage", racism, regionalism, tribalism, impunity, insecurity and injustice "increased".

"Therefore, we can easily conclude that after so many years of governance, almost fifty years, the MPLA failed and no longer has confidence in the people", he stressed, stressing that the country is walking, "dangerously, towards a serious social rupture".

A broad debate, with all society's actors, on the problems facing the country is what Francisco Viana advocates, referring to the desirability that at the end of the debates it is possible to elaborate and approve, "democratically and patriotically, a common project, the project of nation, a national consensus project".

The Angolan nation "should take advantage of this opportunity to deal with the serious problems it is suffering from and find a short-term path, which manages to avoid the increase in social tension and consolidate the country's democratization process", he defended.

The implementation of municipalities is, for the UNITA politician, one of the topics that should be on the consensus agenda.

The self-styled "people's deputy" also stated that Angola needs a renewed, strong and more up-to-date MPLA with the Agenda 2063 of the African Union.

"The MPLA is a great party and has many militants, our good compatriots, deputies, governors, civil servants, who, like us, truly love the noble people of Angola", shot Francisco Viana.

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