According to the coordinator of the FPU, Adalberto Costa Júnior, who read this Wednesday, at a press conference, a statement from this political platform, created in 2022, on the country's political situation, the Government failed in planning, logistics and management of human resources, and is now involved "in many uncertainties and will hardly have a reliable and trustworthy result for either national entities or international organizations".
"We have all seen that the Government did not provide the necessary material and financial resources to carry out the census, successfully as happened in 2014. The FPU demands that the census be cancelled and reformulated so that it can be carried out in a serious and credible manner, so that it can be a useful instrument for managing the country", he stressed.
The 2024 population census started on September 19th, for a period of 30 days, however, the National Statistics Institute (INE) extended the deadline for another 30 days, due to constraints registered in the first two weeks of the start of the process.
Adalberto Costa Júnior, leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the largest opposition party, which is part of the PRA-JA Servir Angola, led by Abel Chivukuvuku, deputy coordinator, the Bloco Democrático, led by Filomeno Vieira Lopes, and members of civil society, the FPU, also criticised the statement made by the President, João Lourenço, in his State of the Nation address, when he accused the MPs of being involved in fuel trafficking.
For the FPU, the President of the Republic, directly or through his assistants, is replacing the Public Prosecutor's Office, "because he believes he has all the powers", urging the head of state to inform the public and the justice authorities "who are the senior officials involved in fuel smuggling".
"Having nothing substantial to present on the fight against corruption, he decided to tarnish the deputies, casting ignominy and suspicion on all of them that they may be involved in fuel trafficking", he said.
In its statement, the FPU considers that the celebration of 50 years of national independence "cannot be a pretext for glorifying the party-state against the democratic rule of law, nor for exalting the achievements and figures of the country MPLA [Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola]".
Angola will celebrate 50 years of independence on 11 November 2025, which will begin to be celebrated on 11 November of this year, with an estimated 8000 people and representatives from 70 invited countries taking part.
"We believe that these celebrations must be inclusive and should allow for collective reflection on our path, as a people and as a state. The FPU believes that the country should not continue to live in the virtual reality that the authoritarian regime imposes on all citizens, through the iron control of the media", it said.
