"It's no use criticizing and whispering in corners about the poor performance of the Government. It is necessary to change the Government. And the constitutional, peaceful and civilized way to do that is here in parliament, through a process of political accountability of the President of the Republic - the impeachment", said this Thursday the president of the UNITA parliamentary group, Liberty Chiyaka.
The parliamentary leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) considered that "censorship or mistrust regarding the performance of the President (of the Republic) translates into dismissal and only dismissal".
The claim to remove President João Lourenço, re-elected in August 2022 for a second five-year term, was presented a week ago by the UNITA parliamentary group, an initiative taken up this Thursday in Liberty Chiyaka's political declaration.
Speaking at the plenary session for discussion of the General State Account (CGE) for the 2021 financial year, the politician said that the CGE "provides solid evidence of the poor performance of the Government, which consolidates the need to hold the holder of executive power politically accountable (João Lourenço), because the accounts don't add up".
"Because it is the first time that this institute (dismissal) will be used, people tend to react emotionally, without reviewing the Constitution of the Republic and the law that the people approved through their representatives", he stressed.
The "dismissal of the President (of the Republic) is a sanction on his political, economic, financial and asset management. When the people elect the President, a relationship of trust is established between the elected official and the will of the people", he pointed out.
"When the President of the Republic loses the confidence of the people, he must be removed by the people, in the National Assembly", he defended, considering that "no one" should prevent, hinder or block the exercise of the right to demonstrate, "because the people do not remove the its President in the streets, through demonstrations".
He considered that the people remove the President of the Republic in parliament, "through their elected representatives. Angolans do not need to march to the (Presidential) Palace to remove the President. The removal takes place here, in parliament, on behalf of the people and for the good of the people".
"Whoever violates the Constitution and the law will be held accountable, whoever governs against the people will be held accountable. The price of bad governance is dismissal," he shot.
The UNITA politician also asked for "courage" to "correct what is wrong and improve what is good", one of the mottos of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), also led by João Lourenço.
"We must be brave to "correct what is wrong and improve what is good", instead of fawning by day and criticizing in corners at night, as many did with the former President of the Republic and do today with the current President of the Republic, it is better to act with courage in the right place", he pointed out.
"The right place to courageously express the will of the people is parliament and the time is now", he underlined, adding that the removal of the President of the Republic "is a national imperative, imposed by the Constitution, not a party directive".
For Liberty Chiyaka, voting for the removal of the President of the Republic means voting for the country, for the defense of the Constitution and the democratic State, for good governance and freedom".
"Voting for the removal of the President of the Republic does not mean voting against the President's party, it means voting for Angola, for the well-being of the people and for the end of impunity, it means voting for the end of coercion and kidnapping of the public press and the judiciary", he said.
Chiyaka also referred that the removal of the President of the Republic "cannot mean constitutional subversion or popular uprising. To say otherwise would be to offend the Constitution, the wisdom and sovereignty of the people".
"If the MPLA is the people and the people are the MPLA", one of the mottos of the "comrades", "then the parliamentary group of the MPLA will vote according to the will of the People: to remove the President of the Republic", concluded Liberty Chiyaka.
