The position is contained in the Declaration on the Situation of the Country, out of an extraordinary session of the Standing Committee of the Political Commission of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), held on Tuesday under the guidance of the leader of the party, Adalberto Costa Júnior .
"The Standing Committee of the Political Commission is pleased to note that the repeated denunciations of the president of UNITA, made in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, about the new form of corruption, concealed in the simplified contracting, is taking effect desired", reads the declaration.
The document stresses that "UNITA was very pleased to follow the recent statements by the Ministry of Finance on irregular procedures in public procurement".
At issue is a letter from the finance minister, which last week was shared on social networks, in which she called the attention of the Presidency of the Republic to the repeated practice of public contracts without respecting the Public Contracting Law.
"UNITA hopes that these pronouncements are not a mere exercise in attracting external sympathies, but that they translate into a serious commitment to combat the corruption that for decades has ruined state institutions and Angolan society in general", states the statement by the Standing Committee of Political Commission.
According to the Standing Committee of the Political Commission, with the practice of public contracting by direct agreement, which has been reiterated during the term of President João Lourenço's governance, Angola is far from embarking on the real fight against corruption.
"Since he assumed power, the President of the Republic has, in direct agreement, the method of granting contracts, making this an instrument of the executive for the purchase of loyalties, the formation or reformulation of a new elite", the document emphasizes.
Regarding the country's economic and social situation, the Standing Committee of the Political Commission expressed its solidarity with the medical class, which held a strike between the 6th and 18th of this month, demanding improvements in working conditions and wages.
"Touched by human sensitivity, when deciding to lift the strike, the medical profession sent a signal to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance and other State bodies to also respond properly in solving the problems experienced," the statement underlines.
With regard to the economic, financial and social situation, the Standing Committee of the Political Commission deplored, "once again, the famine that affects the populations, in various regions of the country, as a result of the poor public policies of the Angolan government, that in 46 years of governance, it has not been able to put into practice sustainable strategies to reverse the dramatic situation in which the Angolan populations find themselves".
On the democratic rule of law, the Political Commission's Standing Committee analyzed "with deep concern" what it said was "the ostensible control of the state media by the ruling party, which was demonstrated by the scandalously unbalanced and undemocratic way in which it was coverage of the UNITA and MPLA [Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola] congresses".
"The Political Commission's Standing Committee regrets to note that the executive's survival strategy, through media control and UNITA's silencing in the state-funded media, is being conducted by the minister in charge, through meetings with the presidents of the respective Boards of Directors", the document states.
The electoral registration process for the 2022 general elections was also analyzed at the meeting, with the Political Commission's Standing Committee "noting with concern" the delay that citizens are subject to at service posts, given the weak response capacity of the system. installed and the small number of operators, with stations that do not exceed 40 calls per day.
"Moreover, the country does not see the existence of in-person registration posts for citizens without ID cards or voters' cards, with the risk that a significant part of the electorate will be excluded during the process", draw attention to the statement.
On the internal life of the party, the Standing Committee of the Political Commission approved by acclamation, the motto of the year 2022, as the "Year of Power Shift for Inclusive and Participatory Governance" and congratulates the organizing committee on the fact having prepared and presented to the Constitutional Court (TC), within the legally established deadlines, the dossier on the acts of the XIII Ordinary Congress, held on December 2, 3 and 4, 2021 - which elected Adalberto Costa Júnior, sole candidate for leadership of the party, after the annulment, by the TC, of the previous congress in which it had also been elected.
The Standing Committee of the Political Commission thanked the citizens who contributed to the success of the congress, with deposits and bank transfers, direct delivery and contribution in kind, totaling a total amount of 75 million kwanzas, applied to the travel and accommodation expenses of the delegates.
