"There is a clear blockade at the level of the National Assembly so that the only law that is missing is not approved. The package consists of 11 laws and the last law, called the law on the implementation of local authorities, is shelved at the will of the MPLA", he stated academic Nelson Pestana "Bonavena", at the Conference on Local Power in Angola.
The topic on the implementation of local authorities in Angola, whose final law on the municipal legislative package has not yet been approved by the National Assembly, was under discussion this Monday at the conference in Luanda.
Nelson Pestana Bonavena, leader of the Democratic Bloc and Angolan academic, was one of the speakers at the meeting, stating that he does not believe that there is a will from the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in implementing local authorities in Angola.
"I don't believe in this power, because the power (MPLA) is experiencing a contradiction in its own terms, the power does not want to lose its monopoly and the hegemony of power", said Bonavena on the sidelines of the conference.
For the university professor, local authorities, by their nature, constitute a form of power sharing and, he noted, to avoid sharing power, the MPLA seeks "at all costs" to postpone local authorities.
"It is not possible for the party in power to win in all municipalities and, as this is not possible, it wants to avoid this distribution of power and is trying its best to postpone these municipalities", he said.
The speaker at the conference on Local Power, promoted by the civic association Handeka, also said he believed that the pressure on the MPLA to implement local authorities, at the level of civil society and opposition parties, should continue to rise.
The pressure "is increasing and will continue to rise and, therefore, it [the MPLA] will reach a point where it will have to give in, unless it takes things to revolution", he highlighted.
For the academic, local authorities are also a way of satisfying demands that are in the local public space: "Because today we live in a reality in which civil society addresses local issues that it must continue to demand".
Asked by Lusa about his expectations regarding the second parliamentary year of the current legislature (2023-2027), which begins on October 15th, Nelson Pestana Bonavena asked for "pressure" on the opposition regarding the conclusion of the municipal package.
"It means putting as much pressure as possible at Parliament level, in order to get the law approved and then put pressure on the President of the Republic to call local elections. Therefore, 2024 will effectively be another year of much struggle in favor of the realization of local governments", he shot.
Jurist Margareth Nangacovie, also one of the speakers at the conference, spoke about the Right to Participation and Local Authorities, expressing skepticism about the holding of the first local elections in Angola in 2024, but admitting, however, that there will be some "signal" from the MPLA: "I think the MPLA can no longer survive by postponing the local elections."
"I think the MPLA is beginning to realize that it no longer has the means to postpone, but I don't think it will be next year. Maybe then we will begin to see a more realistic picture of when they will start to take place, but I am still skeptical", she stressed.
According to the Angolan jurist, the participatory experience of citizens in Angola "is very vitiated by the process of partisanship of social life and institutions".
"We need to rebuild this concept in our own lives, in our own dynamics and recover the essential values for our collective engagement", concluded the university professor.
