"We understand that Cabinda is a province with many challenges, naturally similar to others. What we want now is to have governance that is increasingly closer, more and more participatory", said the minister, in Luanda.
Speaking to journalists at the Presidential Palace, where she was sworn in by the President, João Lourenço, the governor promised to follow the policy of the central power for the province.
"Our perspective is one of continuity, we continue to work with the projects already started at the level of the province of Cabinda, we have structuring projects for that province, without neglecting the continuation of the implementation of the PIIM (Integrated Plan for Intervention in the Municipalities)", she stressed.
"We are going to work with everyone. In our province there is a lot of talk about the issue of its natural resources, but we also need to make a great investment in another great resource that we consider essential, which are human resources", explained the governor.
Mara Quiosa was appointed last Friday as the new governor of Cabinda province, an enclave in northern Angola, replacing Marcos Alexandre Nhunga, as part of the composition of the new government, after the elections on 24 August.
This Monday, as he left the Presidential Palace, he promised greater communication and proximity: "We need to communicate well, because, in fact, we feel that, sometimes, what we lack is in fact this approximation".
"Our executive has major projects, we have many achievements at the provincial level and it is important that our populations know what is happening and accompany all this growth that the province has been experiencing", she stressed.
On the other hand, "special attention will be given to our youth, to young people in the province, in terms of employability and also in the context of the continuous promotion of housing for our young people", she said.
In the August 24 elections, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) elected four deputies in that provincial constituency, a historic result, against only one MPLA deputy in power.
Asked if the electoral results should imply a redoubled dynamics for the province, the governor replied that "commitment to work is necessary".
"It is necessary to understand what the great aspirations of the people of Cabinda are and we are going to work in that direction. It is indeed possible to change the picture, what we have to do is work more, be more involved and be closer and closer to our populations", replied to Lusa.
In this way, "we can identify their major concerns and with them we can increasingly improve and correct our actions", concluded Mara Quiosa, who governed the province of Bengo in the outgoing legislature.
The Front for the Liberation of the State of Cabinda - Armed Forces of Cabinda (FLEC-FAC) has been fighting for the independence of the territory for several years, from where a large part of Angolan oil comes, claiming that the enclave was a Portuguese protectorate - as it was established in the Treaty of Simulambuco, signed in 1885 - and not an integral part of the Angolan territory.
The Government normally refuses to recognize the existence of soldiers killed as a result of guerrilla actions by the independentists, or any situation of instability in that northern province of Angola, always underlining the unity of the territory.
João Lourenço conferred this Monday the swearing-in of the 18 governors of the provinces, the ministers of State, ministers and staff of his cabinet with a view to the new 2022-2027 legislature.
Among the governors sworn in and reappointed to the post is Archer Mangueira, who was once again a bet for the province of Namibe, having promised to do more and better for the lives of people in particular".
"Priorities are those that are already defined in the Government's program and mentioned today by the President of the Republic, to give continuity to the programs that are registered in the PIIM and essentially to carry out actions that solve people's problems", he told journalists.
