The position of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) is expressed in a press release, released this Monday, considering that its initiative should not be confused with "coming to power at all costs".
Doctrinal, political-constitutional and political performance foundations form the axes of UNITA's initiative, which states that João Lourenço's governance "is against democracy, against social peace and against national independence".
UNITA presented the proposal to remove João Lourenço last Wednesday, claiming that the President "subverted the democratic process in the country and consolidated an authoritarian regime that threatens peace".
In reaction, a day later, the Popular Liberation Movement of Angola (MPLA) accused UNITA of being "irresponsible" and wanting to rise to power "without legitimacy", stating that its deputies will take measures to prevent parliament from being instrumentalized.
"In view of the reality verified, the seriousness of the accusations and acts that have been irresponsibly carried out by UNITA, against the President of the Republic, head of State, holder of executive power and commander in chief of the Angolan Armed Forces, the Political Bureau of the MPLA directs its parliamentary group to take all measures so that the Angolan parliament does not come to be instrumentalized, for the realization of designs based on a clear subversive, immature and totally irresponsible agenda policy", said the secretary for Information of the MPLA Political Bureau, Rui Falcão.
This Monday, UNITA says it understands that the posture of the state media, as well as the "hysterical reaction of the regime", are "the demonstration of its enormous disorientation, above all, unpreparedness and difficulty in freeing itself from the monolithic mentality and culture and the superiority complex".
The 'maninhos' parliamentary group, in reaction to the position of the ruling party, accuses public bodies of being exploited and says it has followed with great concern their "biased and unprofessional treatment" when announcing its initiative.
According to UNITA, the aforementioned bodies, even having covered the press conference (held last Wednesday, where a proposal for an initiative to prosecute and remove the Angolan President, João Lourenço) was presented, "nothing was published in its essence".
"Not to vary, and within the scope of clientelism", says UNITA, "the same state bodies highlighted, to the point of exhaustion, the reactions expressed in the communiqué of the political 'bureau' of the MPLA, this one, possessed of fears, as if Carmo and Trindade had fallen to the ground", criticizes UNITA.
UNITA's parliamentary group "deeply regrets that the regime's party, which has been in power for 48 years, may unknowingly confuse the exercise of rights and the observance of constitutional, legal and democratic procedures with popular uprising, subversion of the constitutional order and other communist-style platitudes, typical of dictatorial regimes".
It also clarifies that the dismissal of a public agent, in the case of the President of the Republic of Angola, "for exercising poorly, without competence and outside the law, constitutional power and attributions, even if "elected", is the duty and obligation of the representatives of the people - of the deputies to the National Assembly".
"In view of this, the legislative initiative to be triggered cannot and should not be confused with 'coming to power at all costs', as the regime incorrectly and desperately refers in the rough communiqué of its political bureau", he points out.
With regard to the dialogue proposed by the MPLA parliamentary group, UNITA states that it reacted positively to the proposal, having, by the way, presented a proposed agenda.
"However, unfortunately, after more than 30 days there has been grave silence, which demonstrates that the publicized dialogue is nothing more than mere political propaganda, "to gain time for the MPLA parliamentary group", he adds.
According to UNITA, the "troubled and tense" political and social environment that the country is experiencing "results from the culture of denial, disregard for the governed, bad governance, systemic corruption, looting and squandering of the treasury and impunity, frivolous political discourse and the arrogance of the regime's leaders".
UNITA deputies also consider it "shameful" that the MPLA is, in their view, "escaping from responding - in the institutions it created - to the acts of its governance and doing everything to not respect compliance with the Constitution of the Republic, which it voted for".
"Censorship in the media and the instrumentality of party agents in promoting acts of violence, in promoting a climate of fear and threats to stability confirm the deviations of this governance and the urgency of defending the democratic State and the rule of law", he maintains.
UNITA, in this note, also appeals to all Angolans "for calm and hope for a better future for all".
For the UNITA initiative – which has only 90 deputies – to pass the scrutiny of the parliamentary plenary, where the MPLA holds the majority, two thirds of the deputies in office will have to vote in favour.
