Liberty Chiaka was reacting to the warning left this Monday by the President, João Lourenço, at the end of his message on the State of the Nation in the National Assembly, at the opening of the 2023-2024 legislative year, considering any attempt by anyone to carry out the same exercise to be illegitimate.
"Any attempts by anyone to make a speech about the State of the Nation will be an illegitimate exercise of usurpation of the powers that the Constitution confers only and exclusively on the head of State, who is a singular entity", said João Lourenço.
The head of state was booed at the end of his speech by opposition deputies who stood up shouting "dictator".
For the leader of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), "it was a great shame that the President of the Republic demonstrated that he does not know the Constitution of the Republic of Angola".
"The Constitution of the Republic of Angola is clear, the opposition has the right to political reply. The moment to choose to make the political reply depends on the political actors, therefore, it was a distraction for the President of the Republic", he highlighted, guaranteeing that "obviously" there will be a response.
Regarding the speech on the State of the Nation, Liberty Chiaka said that the head of state should have presented proposals for solutions to the "serious political and social crisis" that the country is experiencing.
"Angola is experiencing a serious political-social crisis, unemployment has increased, extreme poverty has increased, the cost of living has increased, the currency has lost its value, wages do not fulfill their economic-social function of satisfying the basic needs of the population, we live a serious economic and social crisis", he said.
"What the Constitution mandates is that the President of the Republic should have presented proposals for solutions. In view of this serious situation, from a political, social and economic point of view, concrete solutions are not intentions, it is what should have been done", he added.
Regarding the autonomous legislative package, the leader of the UNITA parliamentary group said that he is the leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), also President of the Republic, who prevents the National Assembly from carrying out autonomous activities.
"Angolans need to know that if we don't have local authorities now, if we don't have a local government legislative package approved so far, it's because there's a lack of political, patriotic will on the part of the President of the Republic," he said.
Regarding the initiative presented by UNITA in the process of dismissing the President of the Republic of Angola, Liberty Chiaka said that the document was not rejected, "because the act carried out by the National Assembly last Saturday is null, therefore, it is non-existent".
"What the National Assembly should have voted on is a Resolution, by secret vote", he stressed.
The deputy pointed out the absence of a resolution and "more serious", the vote that "was carried out with a raised hand, contrary to what the Constitution and the Law say".
"That act is null", guaranteed Liberty Chiaka, stating that "if it is null, the process continues in the National Assembly" and "all legal mechanisms will be used to restore legality".
On Saturday, the MPLA stopped the process of dismissing the President of the Republic presented by UNITA in a tense plenary session, which took place behind closed doors, with opposition deputies shouting "shame", which had been called to consider this proposal.
