"The act is reprehensible, what happened is not correct, we also repudiate it, this was a slip that resulted from emotional factors of the members of the visit and our employee who accompanied them who should actually have the discernment to say no to the pastors" , said this Tuesday the secretary general of the National Assembly to Lusa.
Pedro Agostinho de Neri reported that the parliament, "despite being the people's house, did not authorize a prayer session in the main room of the plenary, but its doors are open to any visitor".
The parliament "does not authorize this type of prayers, the parliament is the people's house, and in the people's house when you express interest in coming to visit, we are obliged to facilitate this visit, we have here the modus operandi that you ask for, we authorize it and we have guides, which show where and how parliament works".
"Unfortunately, what happened is that the pastors were moved, when they arrived at the plenary room and saw that monstrous room they were moved, our colleague who was accompanying the visit did not have enough discernment to say that this act was not does," he stressed.
"We also immediately verified the veracity and we have already taken the competent administrative measures and everything else that the parliamentary groups can express an interest in knowing they have a space, this house is theirs, and they do not have to turn to third parties to ask for explanations", he maintained.
A video circulated on social media shows a group of more than a dozen religious, mostly kneeling, praying in the main room of the parliament plenary, in Luanda.
The Social Renewal Party (PRS) condemned and considered this Tuesday "a big mistake" the holding of prayers in the main room of the parliament plenary, urging the direction of the legislative body to "apologise".
"It is certainly necessary for the parliament's management to pronounce an apology because it was a big mistake to be allowed to say prayers in the plenary room", PRS deputy Benedito Daniel told Lusa this Tuesday.
UNITA demanded, on Monday, the president of parliament to determine responsibilities for the "secret religious ceremony" held in the plenary room of the legislative body, considering it as the "peak of promiscuity" between state and religion.
The UNITA parliamentary group also considered that the holding of the aforementioned ceremony, "in favor of the campaign of candidates for President of the Republic and deputies to the National Assembly of the regime's party for the elections of 24 August, represents the 'thingification' of the faith".
"As well as the instrumentalization of religion for purposes contrary to the social doctrine of the church", reads a press release from the UNITA parliamentary group released.
Pedro Agostinho de Neri also mentioned that parties have spaces where they should put their concerns, "fundamentally during a plenary session or in a board of directors where they are all members or in a table meeting, and not in this way".
According to the head of the parliamentary administration, the video that circulates on social media was recorded by one of the pastors of the so-called "platform of Christian churches" to "show that he visited the people's house".
This case "is a matter only because we are living in this political environment, because if we all look back, all the inaugurations we were doing were invited churches to come and inaugurate", he stressed.
"It is the political moment (pre-election period) and there is a relative use of it, but the act is reprehensible, what happened is not correct, we also repudiate it, this was a slip that resulted from emotional factors of the members of the visit and of our employee who accompanied them that she should actually have the discernment to say no to the shepherds", concluded Pedro Agostinho de Neri.
The parliament, whose legislature is in its final stages, is composed of 220 deputies, mostly from the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, in power), followed by UNITA, CASA-CE, PRS and FNLA.
Angola holds the fifth general election in the country's political history on 24 August.
