Adalberto da Costa Júnior thus responded to the accusations of the president of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), João Lourenço, who spoke to his supporters in Dundo, capital of Lunda Norte.
"Angola is effectively fighting corruption", said João Lourenço at a rally in Malanje, considering it "ironic" that some of its competitors say that the MPLA "is not doing anything".
"What is ironic is that those who defend this point of view have made a pact with the corrupt, they are eating from the plate of the corrupt, they are being financed by the money coming out of Angola through the door of corruption, these are its real financiers" , underlined Lourenço, insinuating that the candidacy of the president of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) will be financed by people targeted by national justice.
In his response, Adalberto da Costa Júnior joked: "Those who call others 'marimbondos' when they pass in front of the mirror see a 'marimbondo' reflected", he said, alluding to the expression that João Lourenço famous in 2018, while passing through Lisbon, shortly after being elected, when he set out to fight corruption by destroying "the marimbondo's nest" (a species of wasp).
The president of UNITA used the poor state of the roads to exemplify the embezzlement of public money, stressing that little was invested in the work and the rest went into the pocket of those who governed.
He also considered that corrupt practices had worsened, criticizing simplified hiring (direct adjustment) and underlined that during João Lourenço's five-year term, 97 percent of contracts "were handed over to friends", with part of the money being used to finance the MPLA.
"Then they say that we are eating on the plate of the 'marimbondos', don't think that Angolans are distracted", cried the UNITA leader, stressing that "the biggest incentive to corruption is hiring without public tenders".
"Now you are saying that UNITA is financed by the 'marimbondos', that the UNITA campaign is financed by the 'marimbondos'", said Adalberto da Costa Júnior at the rally, noting, however, that he has no money to give away shirts.
The UNITA leader stressed that the campaign money – even received through bank accounts open to supporters of civil society – is being applied to the mobilization for the vote and for the security of the vote, regretting that the electoral campaign is “completely unequal” in a "country completely painted with the colors of a certain party", referring to the MPLA.
At the rally, Adalberto da Costa Júnior spoke again of the high rate of murders in that province, origin of a large part of Angola's diamonds, "a violence that must end" and that is related to the expropriation of land by the companies. He also insisted on the poor state of the roads that connect the Lundas to the rest of the country, criticizing the degradation of road works carried out in recent years.
