"This is not a budget made for the people and in the interests of the people. This is a budget that reverses priorities and subverts the Constitution. The Constitution mandates the eradication of poverty, the elimination of hunger, and the provision of universal and free primary health care," argued Liberty Chiyaka, president of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
The parliamentary leader of UNITA was presenting a political statement from his party at the beginning of the general debate in parliament on the proposed law for the General State Budget (OGE) for 2025, which estimates equal revenue and expenditure values, 34.63 billion kwanzas, and foresees a high debt service that will absorb almost 50 percent of the budgeted expenditure.
For UNITA, the budget proposal under discussion in parliament promotes corruption, embezzlement and impunity and presents a structural deficit that fuels money laundering operations and the unsustainability of public finances.
This "is not the Budget of a democratic and plural State that respects popular sovereignty and is committed to serving Angolans", said Liberty Chiyaka, also considering that the Government's budget proposal inverts priorities and blocks the effective institutionalisation of local authorities.
After describing what he called the "50 truths about the 2025 State Budget" that he had identified, the president of the UNITA parliamentary group assured that his party would vote against the Budget for next year, considering that it promotes regional asymmetries and social inequalities and is a political and financial instrument for "enriching the regime's elites".
The UNITA politician also said that it is a "Budget from the friends of Frelimo – an allusion to the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) – to finance electoral fraud and constitutional coups in Angola and Mozambique".
In the same statement, the UNITA parliamentary leader gave a "frustrating, desolate and humiliating" political, economic and social assessment of Angola's 49 years of independence, which were celebrated on 11 November.
"Humiliation due to hunger, extreme poverty, high unemployment, destitution, lack of freedom, dignity, prosperity and happiness for the majority of the Angolan people. In Angola, 49 years after national independence, the dream of a large number of Angolans is to leave the country to live in the country of the former colonisers", said Liberty Chiyaka.
The UNITA parliamentary leader also presented a protest vote due to the fact that the National Assembly "has been excluded" from the central role in the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of independence, scheduled for 11 November 2025.
The Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), the Social Renewal Party (PRS) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), all in opposition, also deplored the current social situation in the country, considering that "poverty combined with hunger is real" and asking the government to "look inward" at Angola's path in almost 50 years of independence.
