In a statement, the Executive Secretariat of the Permanent Committee of the Political Commission of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) reacted to a speech by the leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Monday, at the opening of a meeting with the first secretaries of the Party Action Committees (CAP).
In his speech, João Lourenço accused the party's opponents “who, by not opposing, encourage and foment disorder, organize and lead subversion”.
“As has now become evident with the approval of the Law against Vandalization of Public Assets, having proven what was already evident, that they are behind these anti-social and criminal practices”, said the leader of the MPLA and also President of Angola.
Faced with the accusation, UNITA urged the MPLA and its leader to “free themselves from the tactic of pointing the finger at others, whenever the need arises to cover up their own failures”.
According to UNITA, the MPLA offers citizens “a country where everyone who thinks differently lives already condemned, until the MPLA president decides otherwise”.
“The president of the MPLA, dressed as the President of the Republic, in his speech demonstrated, loudly, that he is not up to the republican mission of representing all Angolans, because it is against national unity, the Democratic State and the Rule of Law and the regular functioning of the Republic's institutions. The President of the Republic exudes hatred, promotes intolerance and division among Angolans”, says the statement.
For this historic political party, João Lourenço “by uttering insults against the opposition” about the voting direction of the UNITA parliamentary group, during the final global vote on the aforementioned bill, “resorts to slander and defamation”.
“We therefore challenge him to prove that the occurrence of the crimes he accuses of the opposition are not mere false accusations”, adds the note.
The Executive Secretariat of the Permanent Committee of the Political Commission of UNITA called on Angolans “to reject and condemn the speech of the MPLA president, dressed as the President of the Republic, which attacks peace, democracy and national reconciliation”, encouraging his parliamentary group to base “its political positions on defending the rights, freedoms and fundamental guarantees of citizens and the values and principles inscribed in the Constitution of the Republic of Angola”.
